This is a prototype version sent to us for our thoughts. No money exchanged hands. There are a lot of two-player fighting games on the market. We have played and covered a lot of them here recently. Are skirmish games the new roll-and-write in terms of being the new hit mechanic? Well, first-time designer Andrew Swan from Shrine Games, thinks so and is releasing Merit, a new skirmish game for two-to-four players, coming to Kickstarter in May 2023. For more information, head here. Considering how popular they are now, Skirmish games need to be excellent and offer something new. I would suggest Merit achieves both of these goals. The majority of fighting games I have played use cards. Cards work well either in a deck cycle capacity such as Disney's Sorcerers Arena, combining the cards with dice throws like Dice Throne, or utilising them in a programming-based way such as Kickstarter success, Fatal Knockout . Some have mixed the genre with other mechanics, such as Vengeance Roll and Fight, which incorporates roll-and-write elements into a more solo, point scoring fighting experience. And I like how games like Godtear and Funkoverse make the characters all completely different with hugely asymmetric powers. (Told you I covered a lot recently). Merit though, has no cards or Dice. It chooses a different system closer to an engine-builder that is a little like Heroes of the Shire where each fighter has different abilities that can be unlocked as you develop. But where in Heroes of the Shire these abilities develop over different missions, in Merit, they develop over each game. Set Up To set up the game, players will choose their fighters in turn. Starting with the first player who picks one, then the second player who takes two, before the first player takes two more and the second player takes their final third fighter. Each fighter comes with a hero board, health dial, and some have secondary appearances, a little like skins in video games. These have no affect on the game. On the hero board, each player will place a cube on their maximum energy, they will then roll dice to determine starting positions on the board, and play can begin. How to Play Each round has three simple phases. First, the level up phase where players can unlock one ability on one of their heroes for each realm stone they control. (I'll explain this later). This must be a level one ability at first, but then in later rounds, can be a level two on a hero with a level one ability unlocked, and so on. Any beginning round effects will also occur at this stage, but in round one, this will not be the case. But later in the game, various boons and powers could kick in. Second, is the main turn phase. Here, players will take it in turns to use up to three energy. Each player will have three turns to do this. You can spend the energy all on one fighter, or spread it around your three characters, it's up to you. The energy can be used for three main actions. Moving. Which simply requires one energy and then each hero can move up to its own movement limits. Influence a Realm stone. Which means either placing one of your three dice on one of the three realm stone spaces when you are adjacent to a realm stone space, increasing an existing dice by one to increase its power. Or reducing an opponent's dice by one. And using an Ability. Each ability is clearly explained on your character board and will cost one to three power to activate. There are some abilities that need zero power, but these are more passive abilities that are always active. Finally, there is the reset phase where all players regain their maximum energy for all fighters still in the game, and any end of round effects occur. Players will continue to play, in turn, round by round, like this one of the players triggers one of the two end-game scenarios. To win the game, players must either eliminate all of their opponents characters, reducing their health to zero. Or finish a round with all three of their dice placed on a realm stone space. The mix of area control and fighting is another reason this game feels fresh in a crowded market. Most games I have played have felt like they were going to end with one player losing all their fighters, but in fact, the majority of games were decided by the realm stones. If you can manipulate your fighters to be in the right spot, with the right energy, then you can control the realm stone spaces and make it impossible for your opponent to stop you. Especially if you are acting second in that round. Is It Fun? Playing Merit feels fresh. I have played A LOT of similar games recently but this felt original and full of new ideas. I love the characters in the game. They all feel completely different to play as, and offer interesting asymmetric powers. It has been a lot of fun working out which ones work best with each other, and against what other combinations. The game is clearly expandable in this area. Any new or additional characters would be very welcome. The one area I would like to see developed in this game, or games like this, is to find a way to make movement more useful throughout the game. The Unmatched series currently does this best for me. In Merit, and most fighting games, I find there is an initial rush to get into the best sparring positions, and then players just bash each other for a few rounds. Of course, there is a bit of shuffling around, and the realm stone make for a very interesting element here. But as movement cost energy, and you need energy to fight, I find that most games have minimal movement after round two. I sense this is due to players not wanting to waste their energy on movement as I say, and the easy fix for this would be to allow one movement for free each round. As many of the attacks relay on specific position on the board, this would be advantageous, and stop players using the same attacks each time. however, as I became a little more accustomed to the characters, and learnt how best to upgrade them, I found I did begin to move around a little bit more to utilise by actions in a more efficient way. So, in part, this is also just about learning the game. But it was still minimal. However, this does not deter the fun of the game. Playing Merit is an absorbing experience. You feel captivated from turn one. It all looks wonderful, despite being in porotype form. And the mechanics, ruleset, and characters are all beautifully fine tuned. But the two headline acts here are the upgradable characters and the effects. Being able to develop your character and use new powers and abilities each round makes paying Merit feel such a voyage of discovery that never ends. There are a lot of tokens in this game. But they are all clearly explained on this handy reference sheet that you can leave out on the table for both players to check when needed. Clever use of these effects will be vital if you want to win the game via the first method of defeating your opponents characters. The bleed effect can be especially powerful, more so when up against an opponent with high armour. I would highly recommend checking out this game when it comes to Kickstarter if you enjoy games within this field. I could see this game becoming very popular on the tournament circuit, and I would love to develop my understanding of more characters if that was something designer Andrew Swan wanted to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with this prototype and will watch the Kickstarter with avid interest.

Next Station: London WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Railroad Ink, Metro X, Get On Board. Published by: Blue Orange (EU) Designed by: Matthew Dunstan Next Station London is a game that simulates the experience of building the London Underground routes for the first time. Can you improve on the iconic transportation icon of the UK's capital city? Let's get it to the table to find out. Set Up To play the game, each player starts with one map of London playing sheet and a pencil. In a three player game, there will be one pencil left. Place this on the table between any two of the players. In a two player game place the two remaining pencils to the left of both players. You are now ready to play. Shuffle the station cards and place them face down on the table. How To Play The game plays over four rounds, one for each of the coloured pencils. To start the game, players will find their starting stations. This will be a station matching the colour of the pencil in their hand. One player acting as the 'Controller,' will then flip the top station card over so that it is visible to all players. All players then must draw a line from their station, out to meet a station matching the current face up station card, following one of the grey potential routes on the map. The next card is flipped and now you can build out from either end of your current line. When the Controller flips over the fifth pink or yellow underground card, this will be the end of the round. Any unflipped cards are ignored for this round. Players will draw one final line, and then this round is scored. Scoring is a little confusing at first and hard to teach but quickly becomes second nature" Each line that you have drawn will score points based on three areas. First, the route it takes, scoring one point for each district your line passes through. Districts are shown by the nine main squares on the map, plus the four smaller ones in the four corners of the map. You will also score one point for each station your line passes through in the one district in which you have the most accessed stations. Second, you will score two points for each occasion on which your line passes through the central River Thames that crosses the middle of the map. Multiply the scores from the first two areas for your districts and most station together and add on your river score, to get your final round score. Finally, you will score points for each tourist spot that you line visits. Tourist sites have the outer sun symbol on, with an empty circle inside. Each time you go through one of these you can cross off one circle on your tourist track on the bottom on your sheet. This will score you additional points at the end of the game. You will now get ready for the next round by switching pencils, placing them to the left, changing who will be the controller, shuffling up the stations cards and going again. After the fourth round, you will skip this and move to final scoring. Add all the points scored from the four lines you draw across the last four rounds. Then find your score on the tourist track and add this to it. And finally, add up the points scored for your interchange stations. These are any stations where you have more than one line coming in or out of it. You will get two points for each station with two lines. Five for those with three lines. And nine points for those with all four connected. Add all these together for your final score. There are joker cards that will be flipped that allow you to connect to any station. A switch card that allows you to branch off from existing lines to new stations. Basically creating the Northern line! And a number of advanced modules to keep the game fresh. You can either add the shared objective cards that add two common goals for all players to aim towards for the duration of the game, chosen at random from a deck of five cards during set up. This will score each player ten additional points for each objective achieved. Or, you can add in the Pencil Power cards. These bring in a specific one-time use power linked to each of the four coloured pencils. You can either draw two lines linked to the same shape on one turn, treat the station you are working on as a joker, or as a switch card allowing you to draw a branching station, or circle on station which will now count as two stations instead of one when counting the points at the end of the round. All of them are easy to add, either separately or together. Is It Fun? Next Station London is a fantastic flip-and-write game. It ticks all the boxes that a game in this category should. Small, portable, quick and simple to teach and play, but full of interesting choices. It is simple but addictive. Relaxing but consuming. Next Station London works great in solo, or any of the player counts. What you do will not ever have an impact on any other player. It's just a challenge to see who can get the most points. So, player count will not affect the game length or experience that much, other than teaching new players the rules, and the obligatory post-game banter section. If you enjoy games using this mechanic, chances are you will enjoy this game a lot. Although, saying that, it is also probably very likely you will have a game similar to this in your collection already. So, the question is; should you buy this game? I would suggest yes. It is different enough in theme and gameplay to fit in my bulging flip-and-write collection. And offers something fresh that will get it to the table in high numbers. I love the London underground theme. Being someone that commutes to London every day, but avoids the Tube like the plague, it's nice to create my own underground map. And not have to go down there myself! I like the sense of calm this game brings to me as I play it. And despite the fact that I am simply drawing lines on a piece of paper, I am always quite strangely proud of the end results. The coloured lines look more impressive to me than they should. Good or bad score, I am always left knowing I had a good time playing, and with a new, colourful, unique take on the London tube map to cherish.

This is a porotype copy sent to me for free for our early thoughts. For more information on the game you can check here. Rolling and placing dice is something I love to do. There is something about the luck of the roll mixed with the strategy of the placement that just works well for me. Whenever I see a game offering this mechanic I am always interested to see how it has been implemented. With Dice Barons, the beauty comes in the simplicity. Turn structure is simple. Draw four dice from a bag, roll them, and then place them into your expanding castle. And you know that bit in a game where you realise you are in to it? That time you become aware you are currently in a state of happiness? When you realise you are actively having fun? Well, this happens in Dice Barons very quickly. And a lot. I love puzzling out where to place my dice. I really enjoy thinking about how I can fit all four dice into my castle. You see, you always need to end your turn with all dice placed in legal positions. Which mostly means, you must have orange roofs on all parts of your castle. These can be built on later with other dice. It doesn't mean you have reached your maximum height. But each round must end with this rule obeyed. If you have two dice showing an orange face, and two without, perfect. Build up using two dice on one level and two more on top. But if you have just one orange face to work with, can you place the other three below it, in a way that works for you? Your walls can show any colour, but you will score more points if you can build showing grey outer walls. Even more if you can construct the archery windows facing outwards. Speaking to designer, Matt Reed, he explained, "The unique feature of Dice Barons is that the dice are also the building blocks from which the castles are made. They are rolled as dice, but then used the same way up they fall to build the castle. There are rules about which colours may be used for walls and which colours for roofs, so the top face and the side faces all matter. The only other game that I can find where dice are used as building blocks is 'Blueprints', but that game uses ordinary d6s with pips and the sides don't matter. As far as I can find out, my game is unique in this way." Set up is so simple. Just choose one of the various bases to work from, give one to each player, and then start drawing dice. It is that simple. The way the bag is used to draw four dice to randomise what dice you get, followed by the dice roll randomising what dice face you end up having to work with, does makes a large part of this game luck based. But it does not feel luck based at all when you play it. This is down to the simple fact that all dice work for you. What you draw matters, but you won't ever get "screwed." Most dice faces can be used in a way that can work for you. A tricky draw and roll just makes your construction phase more strategic. But there will be some occasions when you cannot place all your dice. Any dice that cannot be used are simply placed back into the bag. The game carries on until which point there are not enough dice in the bag for all plyers to draw four in a new round. At this point, final scoring takes place. You will score points for each outer wall that shows a grey side. One for a ground level dice. Two for a second level, and so on. Bonus points will be awarded for all archery icons seen on an outer wall and all turret icons shown on a roof top. Tally this up, and surprisingly, most points wins. Dice Barons is a lovely little game, made with a lot of love and heart. Matt Reed has a clear understanding about what makes a game work. I enjoy the simple clean structure of the rules, game flow, and find playing Dice barons to be a calming, enjoyable, but absorbing process. Games only take 10-20 minutes, and I am fully locked into the game for the whole time. It's a great pick-up-and-go game, perfect for pubs, restaurants, anywhere. I will follow the Kickstarter for this with great interest. I hope it hits its goals and fulfils soon. This game scratches an itch for me that not many games in my 600 plus collection do. It's lighter than Sagrada, which is a bit too much for me. But offers more thought than first meets the eye, and is an all round, very enjoyable experience, addictive, and one I will play many more times.

Borders: Europe WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Geography Class Published by: Rounded Kids Designed by: Christian Morgan Borders: Europe is from independent publisher Rounder Kids. They aim to make games that are educational, fun, and encourage exploration. Their first release, Borders: Europe, certainly does that. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. Set Up There are many ways you can play with these cards, and the rules encourage you to create your own versions too. But I will focus on the main game here. "Make The Map." You can see details of the other variations below Shuffle the deck and deal five cards to each player. They split the deck in half and place two draw piles face down. You are now ready to play. How to Play Each player will now check their cards and see which card in their hand has the most named border connections. These are shown on the outside edges of the cards. The cards are either border cards, or country cards. The border cards will be bodies of water and will have just one border each. The country cards will have a number of borders. The player with the card with the most connections will now play this into the centre of the board, and the game will start. You are looking to get rid of your cards, the first to do so, wins. On your turn you can do one of three things. First, you can discard one card and draw two, one from each pile. Second, you can draw one card and then play cards, if you can. Third, you can play as many cards as possible from your hand. Playing cards is simple: you just have to match a card in your hand to a border on the table. For example, if Luxembourg is on the table, you can play Belgium, Germany, or France next to it, as shown on the card below. This will then open up more options for subsequent turns. Keep going until one player runs out of cards. How big will your map grow? For a video description of this game and its other variations, check here. Is It Fun? I like game for three main reasons. 1. I feel like I am learning something every time I play this. That is rare! 2. I feel like I am being a responsible and helpful father when I play this with my children. 3. I enjoy the feeling I get when I play games that have cascading options. That sensation of doing something that then opens a window to more opportunities. You know, when you do a specific action, and now we all have access to this new thing, we can all now do this new action. I love that feeling, and this game is essentially just that. It's great. It feels like as a team, we are getting closer to the finished puzzle which each card we play. As such, we quickly just started playing this game cooperatively, without even a scoring system. We just enjoyed making the map and seeing how big we could make it. As such, this feels like more of a hobby or pastime than a game for me. But that is only for me. There is a game here, a number of them in fact. It's just that as we played, we developed it into that after a few games as that felt more fun to us. But I think that is what these cards are about—developing them and using them for your own purposes. Making new games up. Developing the existing ones to suit you. Learning about Europe and enjoying time with your family. Variations Flag Runner: This is a simple game where players simply take it in turns to try and guess which flag represents which country, using the reverse of the country cards. Remove the border cards from the game for this variation. If you are correct, you keep the card to score one point with the end of the game. If you are wrong, it goes into a separate pile to be used when the first deck of cards is done. Players will now draw from this, scoring two points per correct guess. Travel Trumps: This plays just like normal Top Trumps. Remove the water cards, shuffle the rest of the deck and deal them equally to all players. One player will then name one statistic on their card, all players will then state their number for that statistic on their top card. The player will the highest number wins all the cards. The winning player then chooses the next statistic to compare. keep playing until one player has all the cards. Higher/Lower: Remove the water cards. Shuffle the deck and place it face down on the table. Choose one statistic from the cards to play with, then flip the top card. Then try to guess if the next card will be higher or lower than the first card. Remember, you will have the country flag visible on the card to help you. LatLong: Remove the borders cards and shuffle the deck. Deal 3/4 cards to each player. Flip the top card from the deck. The first player then must choose one card from their hand to place either above, below or to the right or left of this card, based on if they think their card is north, south, east, or west of the first card on the map. If you are right, your card will stay on the table and the next player will have a turn. If you are wrong, the card you play goes next to the next and you will draw a new card from the deck. As the cards on the table build, you can place cards from your hand next to any card even in-between cards if you think that could be correct. But the furthest north, south, east, or west card. You are always forming a cross shape with the cards. The first to play all their cards wins. You can also play this version cooperatively, seeing how many cards you can play as a group. I would recommend this game to anyone with children aged between four and 12. The cards are a great tool to have some fun, whilst learning about Europe and the countries within them. I myself found the experience to be very enjoyable, especially as I got better with my knowledge about the countries locations, and the flags that represented them. I cannot wait for the next geography round in my local pub quiz!

Run Run Run! WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Sub Terra. Published by: The Flying Games Designed by: Bruno Cathala, Anthony Perone Success! You have reached the tomb of Tutankhanine, the Cursed Pharaoh! But watch out! A booby-trap has been triggered. You now need to escape as fast as you can. Mummies are approaching from all sides and must be stopped before they reach the relics of the Pharaoh and gain the ultimate power. You need to fight back and find the exit of this crumbling pyramid before it's too late. Not the most relaxed set-up to a game is it? Let's get this to the table to see if things calm down a bit. Spoiler, they do! Set Up For a small-ish box, and minimal components, this game actually takes a fair bit of space on the table, and has a high number of moving parts. But it is all very simple. First, find the double hex Pharaoh's vault tile, and place this into the centre of the board. This will be your stating space. Each player will choose their 'Catventurer', and places their chosen character board in front of them, along their character onto the central space. Then take all the other hexes, separate the exit tile (setting that aside), shuffle the remaining tiles, and create a face-down stack.. Place the door mechanism tokens, torch pieces, health tokens, two sets of dice, four mummy cards, and regroup tokens into a central reserve. Finally, you must choose one of the three end-of-game Boss Mummies to fight. Shuffle them, and pick one at random and place it face down, discarding the other two into the box so you don't know which one was chosen. You are now ready to play. How To Play To win, you need to create three triangles of tiles, to find the mechanisms needed to create the exit and find the way out. Eliminating all the mummies along the way. If you ever run out of cards, you will lose. And if any of the mummies make it to the starting vault, you lose. On your turn, you will first activate the mummies. To start, there will be just one dice to roll, but as other mummies are introduced to the game, this will increase. Roll the dice, and then if it shows a mummy icon, you must add one heart to the first mummy card. When a mummy card reaches five hearts it will awaken and be introduced to the board. You can place it wherever you like. If you ever have any mummies on the board when you roll these dice, the mummy symbol will move the mummies one space towards to the starting tile as well as adding another heart to the next mummy card. Once the mummy's have finished their turn, each player will then carry out one of three actions. Explore. Fight. Or Cooperate. Cooperate can only be done three times in the game. It uses up one of your three re-group tokens. This will allow you to all move to the same hex on the board and exchange cards if you wish, and draw extra tiles into your hand. Crucial if you are running low, but use this power sparingly. Fighting will come into account when the mummies enter the board. You cannot let any mummy reach the starting hex, and the more on the board, the harder the game will get. The only way to stop them is by fighting them. To do this move onto the space the mummy is currently located at and then discard cards to acquire dice to fight with. The cards all have a different number of exits, from one to six. You can take dice equal to the number of exists you discard. Then roll the dice and carry out the roll. You will either be able to inflict damage on the mummy you are fighting, draw another tile, move out of the room you are in once the fight is over, or your own special action. Each character has their own small asymmetric power, and this is activated by the question mark on the combat dice. The mummies you are fighting all have their own small asymmetric power too. Some will add more mummy dice to the board. Others will steal torches from you. And you only start with five. All of them will take tile cards from you when they land on the space you are on. They all have five health and will be removed from the board after they lose all their hearts. The four powers you have access too are the opportunity to draw an extra card, torch, sarcophagus token, or an extra hit in combat. All great options. When defeated, the mummy cards are shuffled back together, so you could face the same one again and again. When you face the final boss mummy, all other remaining mummy's are removed from the board, and you now must focus on defeating the boss. Each one has a different starting health and power. Either taking extra moves when they travel through the pyramid or cancelling all player powers; and they will all take tile cards from your hand. Other than fighting and cooperating, the main action is to explore. This is how you will move through the Pyramid, find new rooms, gain new torches and powers, and find the exit. When you choose to explore, you must place one of the tile cards in your hand onto the board. It must connect with one of the existing tiles and cannot block any pathways or exits already made. It must also be accessible by your Catventurer meeple. You can only move three spaces each time, and you cannot move through a mummy without stopping to fight. If you need to move more than three spaces at once to reach a recently placed tile, then you must discard a card from you hand. Discarding cards in this way works using the same method as fighting, by allowing you to move one space for each exit shown on the discarded tile. Once the tile is placed and you have moved onto it, you need to see if that tile needs to be lit. By that, I mean lit in the literal sense. It doesn't have to become "exciting or intoxicated," as the internet suggests is the modern meaning. Most tiles do require this, but some show a flaming torch on it already, so don't need any more light. But if they don't, you need to add one of your group torch's onto the tile. You can place a tile if you have run out of torches but you must then add a heart to the next mummy card, bringing it closer to becoming awoken. Once this is done, you will then activate the room tile you just placed. Each room is different and will either be a sarcophagus room which will allow you to draw the next sarcophagus token, gaining you a bonus. Or it will be a glyph room. If you manage to group a triangle shape of rooms with either the same glyph, or three different glyphs, you will gain a bonus. For three matching glyphs you will get five new torches. If you create three different glyphs, you will place one of the door mechanism tokens on it. When you do this the third time, this is how you activate and place the exit door, and the final boss mummy. Is It Fun? Playing Run Run Run! you will go through a mixture of emotions. As you play, it will feel tense, exciting, and very balanced between your chances to escape and the game stopping you. After playing multiple times now, each game has felt very close to finishing with a loss. It could go either way. However, all games then moved to a fairly simple finish, and an easy win. This may be luck, or down to the fact that I played with people used to playing cooperative games, but I would say the game is a little easy. There is only really one way to modify the game's difficulty, and that is through the final boss mummy. But whichever one you face, it won't make a huge difference to your game experience. Perhaps just taking one extra turn to finish them off. I mention this as the game is good. Really fun, tense, and an enjoyable puzzle to work out as a team. But I would like for more ways to make it harder. That said, this is a solid family level cooperate game, that will introduce a number of mechanisms and game techniques to your family or friendship group, all packaged in a fun theme, (Catventurers?! come on!) and simple ruleset. I enjoy the flow of the game for the first 80-90% of the game. It just always seems to end a little flat, with what seems like a simple victory. But for a younger group, perhaps this would be welcome.

Racoon Tycoon WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Concordia, Le Havre, Catan. Published by: Forbidden Games Designed by: Glenn Drover By Steve Godfrey Raccoon Tycoon is a stock trading, economic game in which you’ll be buying railroads and managing resources…….wait! Before you doze off, did I mention this is all done using animals wearing Victorian clothing? Good, now I’ve got you back, let’s get into it. How to trade with a sly fox. A turn in Racoon Tycoon will have players take one action from a possible five. A production action will see you playing a card from your hand. Each one has two halves and you’ll play both of them. The bottom half will let you take resources of the ones depicted to a max of three. The top half will put the prices of those resources up one space on their respective tracks per one depicted. It’s then discarded and you draw a new one. You can sell one type of resource at the current selling price and then drop the price by as many you sold. So if the price of coal is £6 each and you sell three coal, you gain £18 and drop the price down three spaces. You can buy a building, which is as simple as it sounds. Buildings will give you game long bonuses as well as be worth 1vp per one you’ve brought. When buying town cards you pay the resources and take the card. These are worth the victory points printed on them and are worth more when you can pair them with a railroad card. Which masterfully (if I do say so myself) segways me into auctions. You call an auction by choosing one of the two face up railroad cards and starting the bidding. Each one has a minimum first bid on it and you basically go round the table bidding until everyone but one has passed and the winner gains the card. The more you have of one type, the more points they’re worth. If you're the one who called the auction but didn’t win it then you get to take another action, including calling another auction if you want. The game will end when either all of the town cards or railway cards have been taken. Do business bears steal picnic baskets? The term stock market/ trading doesn’t exactly fill me full of excitement. It all sounds too 'mathy' for my liking and maths was never a subject I was good at or enjoyed. So much so that my kids know that asking me to solve a match question is like asking Garfield to enjoy Mondays or Yogi bear to stop stealing picnic baskets, it’s just not going to happen. Add to that that I still get confused by the whole orange juice stock trading thing in Trading Places. It’s great to know then that Raccoon Tycoon has taken the concept of stock trading and boiled it down to its simplest form and made it accessible, and more importantly, fun to a larger group of people. Appealing to a wider audience seems to be one of the goals of the game and I think that’s most reflected in the “theme.” Why the air quotes? Well aside from the lovely art, there isn't much here that really gives you an overwhelming feeling of being in a world of animals doing big business. It’s one that you could easily swap out for your standard stuffy old men in top hats and the game wouldn’t change. It’s this that makes me think that the theme is there to give the game wider appeal……..but honestly, that's okay. For as negative as the above may sound, in this case it’s really not. I’m all for this. Raccoon Tycoon is a fun, and I would say almost gateway level game, so any way of drawing people into it and helping them discover a new type of game and mechanics gets a thumbs up, or, you know, whatever these animals have. Do Raccoons have opposable thumbs? Racoon tycoon delivers a decent amount of tension and, like pretty much all games with these open markets, an element of push your luck involved. Taking a production turn to grab resource’s and bump stock prices up is great if you're thinking about selling on your next turn. But then comes that claw biting wait, just hoping that no one sells that same resource as you wanted and dropping the price. At a full five players this is almost agonising. You even find yourself breathing a little sigh of relief when it comes back to your turn unscathed. This is also true of the building tiles and the town cards of course. It being the equivalent of saving your money up for that one toy you’ve had your eye on forever and just hoping that no one buys it. There is a flip side of course because it’s entirely possible that you could be the one doing this to your opponents. As you watch between turns as they bump the price of coal up and, oh, look, you just happen to have a bunch of coal. You weren't going to sell this turn, but they’ve made it so inviting that it would be rude not to, you start to feel like a thieving Racoon….huh, maybe this is more thematic than I initially thought! As I mentioned before, Racoon Tycoon tends to shine in how simple it is.The rules rundown above is pretty much it when it comes to the rules and you can have it up and running fairly quickly. That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to get your teeth into though. For example, if someone triggers an auction, you may not necessarily want that card. But if it turns out that them winning it will nab them a lot of points, you then have to make the decision to spend the money to get the railway card to stop them having it, or spending the money on that really great building tile you’ve been saving up for. It’s also proof that just because they’ve made this game look cute, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a little cut throat. It is still business after all, just business involving skunks. The building tiles alone will give you just enough to be able to change your approach on subsequent games. While, for the most part you want to try and collect a bit of everything, some of the buildings will give you a bit more of a focus if you buy them. One of them for example will make each building you own worth an extra VP. So for that game, building a heavy strategy is well worth your time. I’ve just googled it and no they don’t! Once you’ve picked up the rules, which as I said shouldn’t take you long, turns can be really quick. So quick that in some games I’ve played someone was still sorting out their money for their last turn when it got back round to them. The only thing that tends to slow things down are the auctions. That’s not a detriment to the game though. Auctions in games can be hit or miss for me but it’s quite fun to watch the auctions in Raccoon Tycoon evolve over the game. In the early game, when people generally have less money, it’s fun to hear people say “ I can’t believe you paid twelve for that card, that’s mad” then cut to later on in the game and people are quite happily throwing seventy or more on a railway card like it’s loose change they found behind the sofa that morning. If you want to know just how competitive your friends and relatives can get just give them a fistful of money and the need to collect a dog in a top hat! For two players the game works just as well for the most part. The tension between turns that I mentioned earlier isn’t as prevalent, the build up you get due to having to wait multiple turns isn’t there, and the auction mechanic for two can fall a bit flat. At two players the triggering player makes a bid, then the other player makes a counter bid if they want and that’s it, auction over. Part of the fun of watching and being part of auctions is that back and forth as you try and psyche out your opponent to see how far they’ll push. It’s like a huge game of chicken (I wonder what jobs chickens would do in the world of Raccoon Tycoon) While that happens a little bit at two players, as the first player you are pretty much taking a wild guess at what you should bid and you lose that fun push and pull. I’m sure that from a design point there’s a reason for this but we personally prefer to do this as a normal multiplayer auction. A Beary good time. Raccoon Tycoon is one of those games which takes a mechanic which could easily turn a lot of people away and extended a friendly paw to help guide you and provides a fun entry point. Will you be a hardcore stock trading fan after playing this? Probably not, but if you’re only going to have one stock game in your collection then this is a great one to have.

Tapestry : Fantasies & Futures WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Viscounts of the West Kingdom , Wingspan , Lost Ruins of Arnak Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Chris Scaffidi , Mike Young This is the third and final expansion to Jamey Stegmaier's ambitious civilisation game, Tapestry . If you would like to read the review for the main game, then head here . If you would like to read the review for the first expansion Plans & Ploys, then head here . If you would like to read the review for this second expansion, Arts & Architecture, then check this link . But if you would like to read about this third expansion, then read on. First up, let's cover the logistics. Fantasies & Futures has no box. It comes in an envelope. Everything in this expansion can easily be fitted into the base box. Inside the envelope you will find ten new civilizations, six advanced capital city mats, 38 new tapestry cards, and 12 new tech cards. There is also a new rulebook that cover all the rules for the base game and every expansion, in one convenient book. It clearly labels a rule specific to an expansion, so it can be simply integrated into any combination of the base game and the three available expansions. It is fantastic, and would be something I would consider buying this expansion for alone. You can see here how they clearly mark each rule with either an AA, PP, or FF, to show which rule is relevant to which expansion. Everything is very simple to understand. After three expansions, this is a welcome addition. It is also a much nicer size to read, compared to the original rulebook included in the main box, which is the size of the box itself. The main addition in this expansion is the ten new Civilisations. They are quite different to the previous civilisations, but all work well with them. However, one does seem to be quite overpowered. I have only played with it once, so it's too early to make a definitive judgement. This is the Elder Ones that allow you to have an extra round of advance turns by gaining multiple extra resources after your fifth income phase. This feels quite powerful, and with the one time i played with it, lead to this civilisation winning by 80 or so points. My favourite of the new Civilisations so far though is the Werefolk. I have always enjoyed exploring the space tiles in this game. They just feel exciting to me. Mainly as it takes some effort to get to them. I like how the Werefolk make use of these, and allow you to gain additional points or re-do previously acquired spaces on the tracks. All of the new Civilisations come from a fantasy background, to suit the theme of this final expansions. More of this can be seen with the Tapestry cards. These new cards bring a new feature to the game which I love. When you place a Tapestry card down with one of the new symbols on, (you can see below with the gain Tapestry card symbol on the right for the Chimera-Citizen Rights cards), you will gain the benefit shown. There are some cards that interact with these symbols as well, but mainly they are a nice additional bonus during the income phase. The idea behind this is that you are being "charmed" by other parallel realities Another great new addition is the six new advanced capital city maps. I am a big fan of the Netherworld, shown in the top right here. I like being able to get lots of extra resources , for extra turns later in the game. This mat worked well for me in order to do that. Although the City in a bottle mat is a great way to get lots of extra points, by not placing buildings down! There are also three new Landmark cards, which replace three cards from the Arts and Architecture expansion due to the printing on the shape being inverted on the original. Simply replace the originals with these, and recycle the existing cards. Finally, we have 12 new tech cards. A lot of these link with the new Arts tracks in the Arts & Architecture expansion, so work well when integrated with that expansion. If you don't have Arts & Architecture, or are not using it, simply remove these cards from the game, or draw a new card if you accidentally leave it in. You will notice again, that all of these card link nicely with either a fantasy of future theme. This is a good expansion. Arts & Architecture remains the best one for Tapestry as it changed the most with the fifth track. However, if you like your expansion to add no more complexity, and just bring more game, this is the one for you. Also, as mentioned above, if you have multiple expansion already, then the consolidated rule book is a welcome addition, and a great way to bring all these expansion together. More publishers should do this with games that have multiple expansions. I have enjoyed the way the game has themed these expansions. Each civilisation in each expansion links perfectly to the unique background. It is nice to now have a vast array of civilisations to choose from. Working out which ones work well with against other ones, and with other combinations of game play, capital city mats, and your approach to the game. If you are a fan of Tapestry, you now have enough options to keep you going for many games. Keeping the game fresh and interesting for years to come. Final thoughts on Tapestry, now the game is "complete." I loved Tapestry when it first came out. I then cooled on it, as I found it too abstract. I was not engulfed in the theme as much as I would like in a civilisation game. But now, after multiple plays, and with all of the content made for this epic game, I am left feeling excited for my future turns. I still wish the game integrated the theme a little more though. I don't think the art helps here. The board is highly functional, clear to read, and looks crisp. But it does not enhance the theme. The fifth board being added in the expansion adds a lot to the game play, but I think a new five sided board with more integrated art style would be a fantastic addition to the game. I know Jamey debated this on his Facebook page, and ended up with this. A rubber play mat . But it doesn't work in the way I feel a few of us wanted. A pentagon shaped board with the five tracks all together, and a darker theme would fly of the shelves I feel. I also feel more could have been made from the names of each position on the tracks. Most plays, I don't even look, let alone read these. It's a shame, as this takes away from the theme, which is there, just not integrated enough for me. Linking specific requirements or developments with the civilisation you are playing as could have helped here. For example, if you were playing as a waring civilisation such as the Militants from the base game, it would have been interesting if in one variant of the game, you could be rewarded by completing certain goals along the Military track. This is a track you will likely be developing on more with this civilisation anyway, as you will are rewarded by conquering. So, a direct goal to develop Calvary, and later Tanks would enhance the theme. It gives you a thematically tied goal to aim for, and when you reach that part of the Military track, you would consciously be developing Tanks, not just reaching an arbitrary space on the Military track. But, other than the theme being mostly absent, I love this game. After all the hype has come and gone, and the frustrations with the base cost from the painted minis has gone away; what we are left with is a highly satisfying game that encourages clever play, brings hugely rewarding combination turns, and feels different each time I play. There are so many options now with these three expansions, I can see this getting regularly plays for many years to come. I will always feel excited to play this game. It always brings a massive table presence, expectation, and sense of a gaming event. For me, it has never failed to deliver on all these things.

Disney Sorcerer's Arena - Leading The Charge Expansion WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-4 (but really 2) You’ll like this if you like: Unmatched, Funkoverse, Smash Up Published by: The Op Designed by: Sean Fletcher Disney Sorcerer's Arena is a fantastic two player, three-on-three character fighting game set in the magical world of Disney. You can read what I think of the main game here, or check my thoughts on the first expansion here, or the second one here. But if you want to see what is new with this new expansion, then read on. You can read about how the game plays in the main review, let's get into this expansion and what new things it brings. New characters! This time, we have modern day Disney Queen, Elsa from Frozen. Scar from the Disney classic, The Lion King. And everyone's favourite disillusioned toy, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. As is the case, they all come as a brightly coloured acrylic standee that look great. The standees and bases all have a protective cover on that needs to be peeled of when you first open the game. This time, they certainly seemed a lot easier to remove. Or, I am just getting better at it after practice! Mine were only on one side this time too, which was nice. I get they need to be protected in transit, but it does seem over the top with waste and effort to have both side. Anyway... Let's take a look at each of the new characters closely. First up: Scar Scar is an amazing new character. He brings a new constant ability which is in effect, even when it is not his turn. This effect reduces other players ability to heal when he is on a yellow scoring hex. He can use his Opportunist Skill to move other characters off these spaces and take their spot instead to utilise this power even more often. And, you will notice he lets you hold three cards instead of the usual two. Big paws I assume? Scar's movement offers various opportunities to close in three spaces and pounce up on your opponent. Which I find is often all you ever need. This, along with the opportunity to assist the movement of his team mates, makes Scar a nimble character to play with. He can also make further use of being on the yellow point spaces by drawing extra cards and forcing other players to lose cards from their hand. Scar even has a movement card that can be used as an attack which allows him to deal three damage and then move. A very useful way to catch another player out. Especially if you have the initiative, and can go first. Where Scar becomes much more exciting is in his attack cards. Again, Scar gains an advantage from the yellow point scoring spaces, this time by attack other players on them, and being able to gain a point from doing so. Life's not fair, is it? Or, he can use his faithful allies, the hyena, By attacking from range, moving the rival he attacked, and potential making them lose a point for the privilege. My favourite card of his, and from this entire expansion is Scar's Treacherous Plot. This allow him to deal a mighty five damage. The rival attacked this way does gain three points however. But, Scar can take an additional turn this phase if he knocked out his rival with this attack. Which often he will with five damage. And again, Scar can play with the power of the yellow point spaces, by gaining an additional point himself from this attack, if this was done to someone on one of this hexes. Elsa plays a little more fair. She brings in a new rule, Invulnerable. This allows her to become immune to attacks for one turn. Elsa has a big heart, with nine health, but rewards her rivals big, with seven points if she is knocked out. But she can keep opponents at bay by immobilizing other characters within a range of two when she upgrades. She is also then able to draw a card. Elsas' movement also gives her lots of options to increase her hand count. She can also help her fellow tam mates recover health, and remove unwanted status effects. Her attacks allow her to target multiple adjacent rivals, as well as freezing them stiff. Or my favourite card of hers, where she can attack a rival next to her, push that rival back, and then attack them again. Although, possible her most powerful card is Show Yourself, which combines brilliantly with other cards so essentially have two turns. I am not a toy. And thankfully, neither is Buzz. He is a fully formed, fighting machine. Buzz is able to use his laser, useless in real life and the movies, so attack rivals from distance, with a rare skill that deals damage. His unshakable determination also allow him to deal damage through his upgradable skill, by adding another damage to any rival already attacked that turn. Buzz is the combo king. Buzz has the ability to move through other rivals when movement, drawing extra cards this way, as well as bringing ally's with him as he travels through the board. His attacks allow multiple attacks again, imagine combining his Rapid Fire with his skill and upgradable power. Sounds fun right? And similarly to the attack of Maleficent in the base game, if you are up against Buzz, you want to avoid allowing your characters to form a straight line, as he has the power to target you all in one attack this way. So, all in, this is a great addition to the collection so far. I hope The Op continue to support this game, as more and more characters will just make it so much more fun. However, I have found that playing the same characters over and over does make for a better game. As you understand a characters deck more and learn which ones work better together, you will enjoy the game a lot more. My current top three characters to play with are Jack Skellington, Scar, and Areal I think they work really well together, at least they do for me. My son is currently combining Stitch, Micky (his absolute favourite) and Maleficent. These six characters make for an epic duel. But I look forward to seeing what new ones we can add in future battles.

That Old Wallpaper WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Sagrada, Azul, Cascadia. Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group Designed by: Danielle Deley, Nathan Thornton Take one look at below box art. How does it make you feel? Nostalgic to your nan's old flat? Or repulsed by the ugly old style? Well, it doesn't matter. Its just a box art. What's inside is what counts. Ooh, tricked you there. But aren't you thankful of the tired and patronising life lesson? No? OK, back to the more simple world of board games. Let's get this one to the table and see how it plays? Set Up Take the small deck of patterned Wallpaper cards, shuffle them up and place them face down in the middle of the table. Then draw one card face up into a central line of cards, one per person playing in the game. If any cards with a red oval in the centre are drawn, you must add one extra card next to this one. Place the Hazy wild cards into a central space so every one can reach them, along with the round tracker cards for round one, two, and the final round. Finally, assign each player a colour, and give them their matching cards and coloured disk. Each player will place their disk onto the table in order of age, youngest first. They will then shuffle their personal deck and draw five cards from it to form their hand. You are now ready to play. How to Play All players will now begin the game simultaneously. Looking at the Wallpaper cards on offer and deciding which ones they would like to acquire for their wallpaper. From the five cards in their hand, they will decide which one to play, to "bid" for the Wallpaper cards. If the card on the far left is the one you want, you will want to play a lower card. The lowest card played will win this card. The highest card played will win the far right card. Of, course, at this stage on turn one, you will find it hard to judge what to play, as you will have no idea what other people will play. But the first card you win is not that important. Each player will play one face down card, and then when all players have done this, the cards are flipped and organised into sequential order. Players will then take back the card they played, and leave it face up in front of them for all to see in later rounds. Then they will take the Wallpaper card they won, and arrange it into their wallpaper tableau. Players will then draw back up to five number cards in their hand and go again. When their draw pile runs out at the end of the 6th turn, players must take the six played cards in their discard area shuffle them up and create a new draw pile. At the end of the 12th turn, do the same. Each time you do this, change the current round using the round cards so you know where you are in the game, either round one for turns one to six, round two for turns seven to twelve, or the final round for turns thirteen to eighteen. The Wallpaper cards can be arranged and placed into your tableau in any way you wish. You do not need to match patterns, but if you do, they will score you more points at the end of the game. Some cards will have a wild hazy pattern on them, such as the far-left card on the bottom row below. On the left side, you can see a shiny pattern. This is the wild design. Any other pattern joined with this is considered complete. But, you cannot score two conjoined wilds. The end game scoring is quite clever. You will notice that each pattern has a large and small variety. Check the top card below in the row on its own. It has one large and one small of the sunshine and red flower design. At the end of the game, after the 18th round, you will count all the completed patterns for each color and size. You will then see which is the lowest number for each pattern and multiply that by two. For example, if you had four large red patterns completed and three small red patterns done, you would score six points. The lowest number was three, so double that. It is all about getting matching pairs of patterns. Don't just build any pattern you can. You need to try and build them up evenly. If players play the same card, you will place them into the same column as above. The tie will be broken by the circular disc you placed at the start of the game. The player who is further to the right on this breaks the tie and takes the cards. The other player will draw one hazy wild card. The wild cards only have one side with a pattern from the four possible sides, and they do not have to be placed until the end of the game. Unlike the usual wallpaper tiles which must be immediately put into your tableau, these can be held back until the end. The winning player will then move their disc to the far left of the line. So, in the above example, the blue player takes the tie and the cards, and will then move their disc to the back of the queue for the next tiebreaker. Players must place their Wallpaper cards as soon as they get them. They cannot be moved or rearranged later in the game. So, you need to make plans for later card placements and try to see the bigger picture. What do you need? What are you short of? How could that be most easily rectified? When you are playing cards to bid on the Wallpaper cards, you will begin to have more information to help you guess what card your opponents will play. As players will leave previously played cards face up, you will know which cards they may have left. All players have the same deck of cards running from one to ten. If you really want to win the card on the far right, and you can see that all other players have already played their nines and tens, and you have both in your hand, you will know that either one will win you the card you want. If, however, one player hasn't played their ten yet, but has played their nine, you will know that they could be in for this as well, and a nine from both players will cause a tie. You can then check to see where you sit in the discs and decide if you can play your nine this time, or if you need to play your ten. Other reviewers have commented on this part of the game, suggesting there is no strategy. There most certainly is. It is just something you need to work at. But in truth, I rarely found I ever wanted a specific card that much more than any other. Generally, they are all good. Apart from one extra part of the game. You will notice that on the above card on the far right, there is a shiny square icon. In the game, there are four different icons: squares, hexagons, diamonds, and triangles. If you have all four of these in your final wallpaper tableau, then you will score an additional ten points. Three unique shapes will score you six points. Two will get you three points. And you will get one point for one. These icons are quite rare and do not show up that often. As such, when one appears in the row that you don't have yet, you will want to do all you can to get it. Likewise, the red oval symbol means that if you win that row, you will claim more cards. In the above example, you will get two. This helps build your tableau, but at the end of the game, the player with the highest number of these symbols will lose two points. Conversely, the player with the least will score two points. There is also a bonus of two for the player who is currently in the lead in the tiebreaker line. After the 18th round, all players can then add in any wild cards they got and calculate their final score. Is It Fun? That Old Wallpaper is a fascinating game. It reminds me of Sagrada in a way that whilst playing, I always feel like I am not thinking about enough of the game. I feel like I am missing something. Focusing on one scoring area, and forgetting another. I like this feeling. It keeps me on my toes. But it is a lot simpler than you first think. It just takes a game or two to get into the swing of things. Checkout the score pad below. Looks a bit intimidating doesn't it? But it, like the game, will all fall into place quickly. First, you can ignore the top or bottom half, it's the same thing replicated for another player or game. Second, the left side is just to tally up how many pairs you got for each size and colour. The right simply goes through your score for each colour, total icons, most or least red ovals, and the person who fished first on the tie breaker track. All quite clear really. It comes into place very quickly, starts to make sense, and much like the game, brings a sense or order to my brain. I was intrigued by the theme of this game. I reached out to one of the designers, Nathan Thornton, as I was interested about their motivation and inspiration behind this game. "You know how when you're a kid and you're spending the night at your grandma's house and you can't sleep and you're just staring at the wall, tracing the pattern in the wallpaper with your eyes, following the lines and shapes and colours, finding weird patterns and making weird connections. And then years later, you realize you haven't thought about that wallpaper in years and you're talking to your older sister and you're like, "Remember that old wallpaper Grandma used to have" and together you try to piece it together, but you remember it totally differently ("I swear it had pink roses on it" "No, they were like orange starbursts, I thought"), but you realize that you both internalized that memory of a random detail from your childhood and it's something that is at the same time 1) intensely personal to you, and 2) deeply shared with your family members." "And anyway, I'd already had the idea for the bidding/drafting part and the pattern-making part, and the theme seemed like a fun one that hadn't really been used in any games I could think of. Originally, I wanted to call it "Remember That Old Wallpaper We Used To Have?" but everybody agreed that it was way too long and nobody would get the name right." This makes sense to me. This cosy, nostalgic sense of calm, belonging, and enjoyment rings true for me in the game. As I play this, I think I get what Nathan was trying to achieve. Yes, this is a strategy game on the surface. But at it's heart it is also a blanket. A memory. A childhood friend. For what is essentially quite an abstract experience, just having this knowledge of the designers motivation has enhanced the game a lot for me. I look at the tableau I am building, and I picture my grandparents house from when I was young. An old house, situated on a long leafy road. I loved it. The house had two floors but they only used the downstairs. The upstairs was full of "stuff." Downstairs, the décor was green, yellow and brown. The carpets were well trodden and dusty. The furniture was warn, but welcoming. The wallpaper, well, that's another story.

Qwirkle WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Rummikub, Scrabble, Cascadia. Published by: MindWare Designed by: Susan McKinley Ross Qwirkle is an absolute modern classic. First made in 2006, this game feels like it could have been around for hundreds of years, both in its timeless design and its well-oiled mechanics. Qwirkle is a colourful and engaging board game that combines elements of strategy, matching, and pattern recognition. It is similar to other comparable games, where players seek to maximize their turn by not only placing their best tiles but also placing them in the best location. The game is designed for 2-4 players and is suitable for ages 6 and up. Let's see how it plays. Set Up Inside the box is one large bag filled with chunky square wooden blocks. Take the bag out of the box and have each player randomly draw six tiles. The person with the largest set will go first, and must place this set down. A set is either a group of tiles with the same colour, or shape. You can play one to six tiles at once. You cannot play two identical tiles in the same line at any point. How to Play Once the first player has placed their tiles, players will take it in turns clockwise around the table to place tiles. You must place one to six tiles from your hand somewhere into the common play area, touching at least one of the existing tiles there. You can join tiles orthogonally, and must always obey the same rules, where tiles are in lines of matching shapes or colours. And you must never have two of the exact same shape and colour in the same line. There are six different types of each colour, with six shapes. If ever you lay down tiles into a line to make for a line of six, this is called a Qwirkle and will score you six bonus points. Usually you will score points for the number of tiles in the line or lines that you added to. Place one tiles into a line of two to make a line of three, and that scores you three points. Add two tiles into a line of three to make a line of five, and you will score five points. Add any number to make a line of six and this will score you12 points. Six for the usual scoring, then six bonus points. When you place a tile you must immediately replenish your hand back up to six tiles. If ever you cannot go, then you can replace as many tiles as you like with fresh ones from the bag, but this will forfeit your turn this round. The game will continue like this until the bag runs out of tiles, and the first player places their final tile without being able to replace it with tiles in the bag. At this point, the game will immediately end and the final scores will be announced. As you score as you go, there is zero end game management. And to pack up, you simply sweep the tiles back into the bag. It is big enough to make this a simple and let's be honest, an enjoyable process! Is It Fun? Qwirkle has a classic feel and style to it that instantly makes you feel at home. It is hard to describe why, but picture this. Playing classic games like Scrabble or Chess, or any game that I have fond memories of from my childhood brings a sense of calm to me. I find this is common with many games that are familiar to many people. When playing Chess for example, players must use strategic thinking and logical reasoning to anticipate their opponent's moves and plan their own. This requires a level of focus and engagement that can be both challenging and rewarding. But also one that creates a feeling of relaxation and peace. Despite the challenges in the game. As players progress through the game, they may feel a sense of satisfaction as they successfully execute their strategies and outmanoeuvre their opponent. But win or lose, all players are rewarded with the serene vibe that is created. The pieces are chunky (most the time, if you have a nice set) which feel great on your hands. And the game is often played in a relative state of calm and quiet. Qwirkle feels very much the same as all this. And the familiarity only adds to the soothing environment. There is a huge sense of satisfaction from find clever spots to place your tiles. Such as in games like scrabble and Rummikub, I found a lot of joy from placing tiles is clever spaces to maximise my point return. Tiles can score in multiple lines you see. Such as the three green above. When these were placed above the line of four yellow, the square score twice, both for the line of three that it was in, but also the new line of two it formed with the yellow square. This is a very simply example, and as you play more regularly, you will find that you spot these sorts of places for your tiles more often, and in more ingenious ways. Finding little holes and gaps that a few of your tiles can fill for a big return is a never ending addiction in Qwirkle. I enjoy places fewer tiles for larger rewards. This can block up the board a little. A little like in Scrabble if both players do this, and no one plays nice long words to come off. But because you are not making works here, just lines of matching colours or shapes, you can always find a blocked up area to start a line off from the end or beginning. It's not like you are always hoping for an "S"! One thing I really appreciated about Qwirkle is the quality of the game components. The tiles are made of high-quality wood and have a nice weight and texture that makes them easy to handle and place onto the table. The tiles feel sturdy and well-designed, with clear markings and a colourful layout that adds to the overall enjoyment of the game. In low light, some of the colours can be hard to decipher though, and I can imagine this may be tricky for those that suffer with colour blindness. The bag the tiles come in is huge. It has a nice large opening for even the largest of hands to fit nicely in. Having played many games with small bags, this is a welcome addition, trust me! it is of good tough, durable quality as well. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys classic feeling games that offer a smooth, and simple gameplay. This game is suitable for all ages and my family have enjoyed ending many game sessions recently with a game of Qwirkle. It is one my mother has really enjoyed, and my Rummikub obsessed Uncle I think would enjoy this too. This is something I love about games. Their ability to bring people together. Qwirkle has done this for my family and I think it could do it for yours too. There is a simple and pure pleasure about playing with these chunky tiles in your hands. Finding the best place to lay them. And scoring those illusive Qwirkles! I can see this game quickly becoming a family favourite, and I am surprised it does not get more mainstream coverage and distribution. Everyone should own Qwirkle. It deserves a place in everyone's home in this board game reviewers opinion.

Forest WBG Score: 6.5 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: 6 Nimmt, Kawaii, Papageno. Published by: Helvetiq Designed by: Leo Colovini, Fabio Visintin Helvetiq make the most awesome small boxes of delight! Some of my favourite card games come in these tiny packages. Punching well above their weight, and always with such gorgeous art. One game that I had previously missed from 2017 was Forest. But thankfully, the good people at Coiledspring have sent it through for review so I was able to catch up. Let's see how it plays. Set Up OK, this is going to be a long one. Settle in. Shuffle the deck. Deal three cards to each player. You are now ready to play! How to Play I hope you are still with me. That was a brutal set up! But in seriousness, this is what this little boxes from Helvetiq are all about. Once, everyone has their cards, decide on a first player and then in turn, each player will play a card face up into a communal play area as above. Then redraw to three cards. This will continue until the deck runs out at which point the game ends. Each card in the game features various magical forest creatures such as gnomes, frogs, owls, and fairies. If the total number of any single creature on the table reaches seven or more, then a trigger occurs. In one version of the game, players aim to avoid collecting cards by never reaching seven creatures. In the other version, players compete against each other to collect cards by strategically placing cards on the table that get the total number of any creature type to seven or more. As you place your card down, you can do so either end of the current tableau. Laying it either horizontally or vertically based on the art. Although this has no effect on the game. It is a simple matter of, has your card tipped the scales over seven or not on one particular character. If your card does tip the scales, then you must take every card with this particular critter shown on it. You will place these cards into a face down pile in front of you for end game scoring. This will either be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on which version of the rules you are playing. It will either be a case of trying to avoid this, or looking to achieve this. And both versions of the game feel very different. When the deck is finished, the person with the most cards either wins or loses! One final rule that I don't play, has any remaining cards on the table go the the last player who collected cards. This seems to add too much of an unfair swing. I simply take this rule out. Furthermore, there exists an intriguing variant that I relish playing, wherein you are given an additional five points upon successfully amassing a set of seven cards for each of the four distinct characters. This particular gameplay mechanic not only engenders a palpable sense of tension but also introduces a rewarding final element of set collection that I find particularly engaging. Is It Fun? When it becomes your turn, you are either looking to get a certain group of creatures to total seven or more, or avoid that at all costs. Some cards will have more creatures on than others. Some cards have nothing on at them at all, except trees. Depending on the variant you are playing, you will either be counting up what is on the table so far and then trying to get to seven, or seeing if it is possible to lay any of your cards that would avoid this. Ideally getting to six in as many as possible, to make the turn of the next player harder. This creates a very simple, but lovely tension. Some other reviewers have suggested this is too simplistic for it to be considered a good game. It has been suggested that there is no meaningful choices and it is too luck based. Whilst this is partially true, you do have three cards to choose from. For me, there can be a lot of fun in which card you play. Yes, it is a simply choice. And one you don't have full control over. But it is a choice that has created plenty of laughter, cries of joy, and mock accusations from other players as you leave them with no good choices of their own. When this happens to you though, when you are the one left with no good choices, it can be annoying. When playing the version where you are looking to avoid collecting cards, being forced to collect cards, can be frustrating. Especially when there is nothing you can do about it. But this is the game. And all players are in the same boat. Your tree tableau will build until it eventually has to pop. If it pops on you, that's a shame. But it is unlikely it will be you next time. You cannot take this game too seriously. It only takes five minutes to play. You are never that invested in it that losing the game will ruin your day. I would recommend this game to people who enjoy short games that require minimal thinking, and create some funny, take-that style moments. This is a game for people who want something with a small footprint, minimal strategy, but high levels of cuteness! One thing I really loved about the game is the artwork of the cards. The illustrations are beautifully drawn and have a whimsical, almost storybook-like quality to them. The cards are also of high quality, with a nice weight and texture that makes them easy to handle and shuffle, despite the awkward shape. My family find this game enjoyable. We don't take it too seriously, and have played it a lot across both formats, My son (Ten) much prefers the version where you are looking to avoid getting to seven. My daughter (Seven) on the other hand has a preference for the version where you collect as many as you can. This seems to be because they are just better at this version themselves. And the results speak for themselves. over the last 12 games, my daughter won three out of four where we played the most cards win. And my son won five out of eight games where we played the least cards win. Perhaps there is some strategy after all?

Cortex: Harry Potter WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Cortex Challenge, Jungle Speed, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. Published by: Gém Klub Kft., Zygomatic Designed by: Johan Benvenuto, Nicolas Bourgoin There have been a number of Cortex games. A geography version, one specifically aimed at children with simpler puzzles. And one just for adults with mature content. But now we have one specifically for fans of Harry Potter. Or, for families that don't mind a coincidental Harry Potter theme. Let's get into it and see how it plays. Set Up Getting this game to the table is very simple. After initially learning the rules that is! There are three types of card in the deck. 74 test cards. six touch cards. And ten raised touch cards. Shuffle the test and touch cards together to form a face down deck. Then lay out the raised touch cards onto the table and give everyone the chance to have a good feel, look, and play with them. This is so people can learn about each card before the game begins. The raised cards have symbols, made famous by the Harry Potter books and films, with a raised and varying pattern on them. Once everyone has had a chance to familiarise themselves with these ten cards, set them aside, give each player the four parts of the Hogwarts crest, and the game can begin. How To Play One player will now turn over the first test card. The symbol on the back will tell each player what type of test this will be. There are eight in total. As soon as the top card is flipped, all players are trying to work out the solution at the same time, as quickly as they can. When someone thinks they have the right answer they must place their hand over the card. Fastest hand wins. They must then reveal their answer to the group. If they are correct, they take the card and place it face down in front of them. If they are wrong, the card is discarded and that player is out of the next round. In a two player game, the card is given to the other player. Whenever ever a player collects two cards of the same type, they can exchange this for one of their four Hogwarts crest pieces. The first player to get all four of their pieces together wins the game. All very simple. But what are the four tests? 1. Secret Passages: You must start at the Harry Potter symbol and follow his path into the first door. This door will match another door on the map, where Harry's path will continue into a second door. This second door will match another door on the card which will now lead to a symbol. When you have worked this out, slap your hand down onto the card and say the symbol. If you are right, the card is yours. Let other people check your path afterwards to see if you are right. Or, just slap your hand on the card immediately, and take a guess on one of the symbols as my wife likes to do! She gets lucky more than she is wrong! Above, it is a feather. 2. The Golden Snitch Race. The explanation for this challenge in the rule book is terrible! I had to go onto Instagram to get the answer from a few helpful people there. Thanks @lutz_boardgame.de The way this one works is you need to imagine there are only four people racing on broomsticks. Some may be shown on the card more than once, but that is just showing them from different perspectives. If a blue wizard is beating a green wizard in one picture, but the same blue wizard is losing to a yellow in another, that means the blue is second, the yellow is first, and the green is third. But if in the last picture, a red wizard is beating a yellow, that actually means the yellow is in the lead. Make sense? Check this one above. Which one do you think is winning? See the bottom of the review for the answer. 3. The Unique Patronus. In this test you will be presented with a number of different animals, all in pairs. All, except one. Find the one animal without a pair first to win this card. Can you spot which one is going solo above? 4. The Wizards Mayhem. In this challenge, you will be presented with a number of different common objects seen in the books and films. They will have a blue, green, or red glow to them. Be careful, as some objects have these colours too and can confused you. Look for the glow colour, not the objects colour. First, identify which colour glow is shown around the most objects, then memorise the objects with that colour. Slap your hand down first, state the colour with the most objects and then list the objects correctly to win the card. This one is a lot harder than it seems, as often player will slap with the right colour, but cannot then remember the objects. Generally all but one! Above, the most common colour is blue, the feather, ticket, and Hedwig. But you may think red, as there is the book and glasses, and the potion is red, but check again, it is surrounded by a yellow aura. It's just the bottle's contents that is red. Tricky Hobbitss'ss. Sorry, wrong franchise. 5. The Spells Battle. This is the hardest one for children as it needs you to remember your rights and lefts quickly! Something that I noticed even adults struggle with at times. The back of the card will show you the blue always relates to the left, and red to the right. When you flip the card you will see a wand and a spell coming out of the wand. If the wand has a red glow then you must hold up your right hand as if it has a wand in it. If the wand has a blue glow, use your left hand. Then, if the spell has a red glow you must point to the person to your right and say "Cortexum!" If the glow on the spell is blue, do the same nut pointing to the left. It's hilarious how often people get this one wrong. It's also a lot of fun to see who is pointing the right way with the right hand or not! 6. Hogwarts Houses. This is a simple game of spot the difference. You will be presented with three seemingly matching house crest's of one of the four leaders of Hogwarts. However, there will be one subtle difference on one of them. Spot this first to win the card. This is the weakest of the eight challenges as you will quickly learn what the differences are and be able to spot them from memory rather than observation within a few games or so. This obviously gives a massive advantage to anyone who has played the game more than others. There are only 74 normal test cards. That's roughly ten cards per tests. There are four houses in Hogwarts so only a couple of cards for each house. You will easily remember what is different for each. Especially obviously ones like above. They either needed more cards. Or just one House type for each one, so it was not so easy to spot the change. 7. The Magic Circle. The back of this card will show a number of symbols. When you flip the card you need to spot which symbol has either been added or removed. Quickest to spot this correctly wins the card. See the extra symbol above? It's a lot easier when one is added like this. When one is removed, it can be a lot harder for your first few games. 8. The Raised Touch Challenge. This is the most fun part of the game. When you see one of the six finger print test cards, you must as a group, decide which one of the ten raised touch cards to give to the person who most recently won a challenge. Give them one of the cards so that they can feel it, but not see the front. They then have ten seconds to touch the card and try to correctly identify the symbol. It is surprisingly hard to do this. It is a lot of fun to watch others try. It's a shame this comes up so infrequently in the game. These cards are the star of the show, both in looks and gameplay. Is It Fun? Playing this game is a riot. It has quickly become a family favourite for us. My children (Ten and Seven) have asked to play it every evening since we got this, and my wife and I are only happy to oblige. It is a delight to be faced by these eight challenges. In a game that typically lasts' 20 minutes, and has this many varying tests, it feels fresh each time they come up. People cheer or boo when the one they need to make a match with comes up, or not! And each challenge offers a different test of your brain. Memory, matching, colour identification, or problem solving. They all feel quite different, exciting, and consistently challenging. Bar the Hogwarts houses one. The difficulty level seems to favour older players at first. But I found as my children got to understand the game more, they were able to win more than they lost. I would put this firmly in the family game category, but could see this being fun for a group of adults after one or two Butter Beers! The raised touch cards are the highlight. They look great. Are fun to touch. And it is a lot of fun to watch other players trying to identify an image, which to you looks and seems so obvious. We end every game by challenging each player to see who can identify the most, trying each of the ten cards in turn. Even after about seven tries each, we still only score around seven or eight out of ten. That pesky Quidditch Cup gets me every time! I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the franchise, and is looking for a fast, fun, family friendly game to play after dinner with their children. This ticks all those boxes, and will offer a lot of life for many games to come. It's a shame the rule book explains the Quidditch Golden Snitch race so poorly, and that the spot the differences on the Hogwarts Houses is so easy to remember. But other than that, this is a brilliant little family game I will treasure for many years to come. It was red!