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Sagrada: The Great Facades - Glory WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count:2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Sagrada, Roll Player, Azul Published by: Floodgate Games Designed by: Adrian Adamescu, Daryl Andrews By Steve Godfrey If you’re not familiar with The Great Facade expansions for Sagrada, then, much like a window, let me enlighten you. Each one (there’s three overall) has a number of modules included which you can mix and match into your game. This new expansion brings the total to 10 modules that you can add to your game of Sagrada! I’ve not tried them all together but I’m sure that one day, someone will decide to play a game with ALL the modules and I can tell you now, that won’t be me……well maybe not………okay now I really want to try it. If anyone fancy’s donating me the Life expansion I’ll do it and write about it here once my brain has recovered! Strife Dice Just like the other modules you’ll be given some nice new dice to play with and yes they’re grey, but you can trust Floodgate to make even grey dice beautiful. They’ve got this lovely marbled sheen and they look great. When you play with strife dice, set ten aside next to the round tracker and then set up the rest of the dice according to player count. This will also include more of the strife dice. Shuffle the strife tiles and pick one at random and place it for all to see. Place out one strife tool card and one strife public objective then fill the rest of the slots with regular objectives and tools. Now when you pull dice from the bag only take two per player then add one of the strife dice that you’d set aside on the round track. Play continues as normal with strife dice acting as their own colour but all the usual restrictions apply. However, the tile you placed down earlier will give the strife dice their own restrictions. Have a look at the picture for some examples of how they work. This expansion was pitched to me as the one that makes Sagrada more difficult. The first time I used the strife dice I wondered what people were talking about. These were no trouble at all and that was with us using all of Glory’s modules. I was beginning to think I was being strung along by people’s descriptions. Then I played my second game and I’ll tell you what, whoever named them Strife Dice needs a pay rise because that name is spot on. Our tile this time said that two grey dice couldn’t be in the same row. One of our objectives said that we needed two grey dice in a column. It was scorable but it needed some careful planning and that was without everything else that needed to be taken into account! I love what these add to the puzzle and they definitely up the brain burn factor. How much depends on the combination of the strife tile you pick, and the public and private objectives but I think even with the most forgiving combination there’ll be enough to up the challenge. I love that they’ve made it so that you definitely have a strife die every round. There’s sometimes nothing worse than adding expansions into a game and barely seeing any of the content come out. Having said that, when you pull out a handful of strife dice, then have to add another you can’t help but curse your luck. It’s a great idea to always add a strife tool and a strife objective every time you use them, it means you’re always able to make full use of them for scoring and manipulating. Pioneer Objectives These are new public objectives and you’ll add three at random to your game in addition to the usual three in a regular game. These come in a variety of flavours such as, being first to complete certain areas of your window or completing a row with different coloured dice. However, rather than scoring for everyone at the end of the game, the player who achieves an objective first will claim the card and score these points at the end of the game. They won’t get replaced once they’re claimed so be quick. Sagrada for me has always been a heads down type of game with players only looking up to select their dice and occasionally berating other players for taking the ones they wanted. The new objectives work to change that dynamic by adding some interactivity to the game along with a race element. In the base game there wasn’t really a need to watch what other players were up to but now you’ll find yourself scanning other people’s boards to not only see what one they may be working on but also how close they are to achieving it. They add a new level of tension and excitement to Sagrada as you look round and see another player close to getting the same objective as you and you wonder who’s perfect dice is going to come out first. Let’s not forget that they’re also going to be adding to the puzzle as a whole as now you’ve got another thing to factor into your window along with the public and private objectives. These are a great addition to the game, and the fact that they are in addition to your normal public objectives means that I’ll probably be adding them to every game now. Rivalry Public Objectives As the title suggests, these are another type of public objective that can be shuffled into your normal objectives deck (so you can use these with the pioneer objectives) These are competitive objectives with the person who achieved the most of each getting most points etc. I’m sure we all know the deal with how these sorts of objectives work. Much like the pioneers objectives these add to the interactivity and how much you’ll be taking in other peoples boards. There may be a bit less of that with these ones just because you won’t be able to see as quickly how well players are doing with them. Again, these are fun to have on the table and make end round scoring a bit more exciting as you watch each other count how well you’ve done on them in the hope that you net the big score. These will get shuffled onto the main objective deck so they won’t get picked out everytime, but I’d be tempted to keep them separate and make sure one goes into the line up each time. Flourish Private Objectives During set up deal two to each player, once they’re chosen their window they then decide if they want to keep one, both or none of them. For each one they keep they get an extra favour token. Completing these will score you the points at the end of the game just the same as regular private objectives. However, if you don’t complete the ones you kept by the end of the game you lose the points value printed on them! Do you want to make Sagrada more stressful? This is how you make it more stressful. Every objective in Sagrada is important and you always want to do as many as you can to get the best score, it’s literally the whole point of the game! But if there's one you can’t do you can just as easily forget it and focus on getting more points from so other ones. These flourish objectives you NEED to complete because losing any of these points could easily lose you the game. Much like the pioneer objectives these really up the tension in the game, but a different type of tension, because you decided to keep the card/s so now losing those points is all on you. The longer it takes to get them finished the more that touch of panic sets in as each round you eagerly look to see what dice are pulled from the bag and what’s rolled just praying that the right dice come out. When you’re on the end of it, it’s horrible as your mouth begins to dry and you start to curse yourself for being too cocky and taking both. When you’re on the other side however you get some weird sense of pleasure as you see your opponents squirm and frantically check their objectives constantly hoping that they’ll miraculously be able to achieve them…..or maybe that’s just me embracing my inner moustache twirling villain! I only have two of the great facades but this one is currently standing as my favourite so far. If I have one problem with it it’s that there are no rules on how to use the private dice pool from the 5-6 player expansions (which, if you’re wondering, is my favourite expansion for Sagrada) which is a shame. There’s a couple of threads on board game geek which deal with that so go and check those out if you want to use the private dice pool. See right through you. I was told that this gives the game more bite and ups the challenge of Sagrada and I’m definitely not going to argue with that! So I’d definitely seek this expansion out if you feel the base game needs a bit more bite. I'll always want to play with the pioneer objectives and maybe a rivalry objective. If I’m playing with people who have played before then I’ll also be looking to give out the flourish objectives as well, just maybe not during the hot weather, no one needs to sweat THAT much. I really like the strife dice but, like the rare dice from Passion they may be an as and when addition. I may even alternate between them and the rare dice. After the 5-6 player expansion this is the one I would recommend you pick up next if you want a bit more challenge from Sagrada or if you want to make the game that bit more interactive. You could always throw all of Glory’s modules in and use it as a starter game to break your friends' brains before the big game of the night to help you secure a victory and Glory!. Huh, maybe that’s where they got the name from?

Wild Island WBG Score: 7 Player Count:2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Labyrinth, WolfWalkers, My Fathers Dragon Published by: Value Add Games Designed by: Maja Milavec My Fathers Dragon is a movie that came to Netflix in 2022. The film is based on an illustrated 1948 children's book, written by Ruth Stiles Gannett. The book was the winner of the Newbery Medal. An award that recognises “distinguished contributions to American literature for children”. Perhaps you grew up reading this? Wild Island is a board game version of this story, set in the same beautiful, magical, and exciting world. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. Set Up. First, connect the four beach pieces to form a square frame. Then find the four tiles that show Elmer and Boris flying on the back. Below is the reverse of the tiles. Illustrated beautifully, and functionally to aid set up. But otherwise, this art serves no purpose in the game. It's just been done to make the whole experience feel more immersive. The inside of the box lids have the same touch. See below. Place these four tiles into the four corners of the frame with the dotted circles orientated into the corners. Then fill the rest of the board with the remaining tiles, placed randomly. Each player will then choose a colour and place their playing piece into the corner closet to them. Then place the four coloured jigsaw pieces matching each players chosen colour face down next to each player. The jigsaw will show four icons, one of each piece. This will be the target locations for each player in the game. Finally, shuffle the courage tiles and form a face down stack next to the board along with the dice. You are now ready to play. How to Play Players will now take it in turns to move around the island, trying to get to the four spots on the board that represent the four icons shown on their jigsaw pieces. Each time they get to one of their locations, they can flip the corresponding jigsaw piece. The first person to visit all four locations and flip their complete jigsaw is the winner. However, nothing is as simple as you think on Wild Island. If you have read the book or seen the movie, you will know what I am talking about. A players' turns starts with the Island Shaking! In the story, the Island is constantly sinking. In the game, this is represented by the land tiles shifting places. However, you may be able to use this to your advantage, and also, to cause some mischief to the other players. At the start of your turn, apart from your very first one, players must pick up a tile next to one of the eight white arrows. They will move this to the opposite side of the board, rotating as they desire, sliding down the other three tiles. They will then place the tile they removed onto the other side of the board into the space created by sliding the others tiles down. This can move your own or other characters as this happens if they were on any of these four tiles. Once the Island has finished "shacking," players will roll the dice and move the displayed amount, up to two times in order to get closer to their next target. If you end your first turn on an icon then you cannot roll your second turn. You must stop there and then choose if you want to carry out the icon's effect. The different icons offer different powers to help you move across the island more quickly. These are all optional benefits. They may not always be helpful. If not, you can simply stay where you are. The Wings icon allows you to fly to any space on any adjacent tile. Even another icon space. The Cave symbol lets you move to any other unoccupied cave symbol on the board. An objective symbol, the animal picture, let you flip one of your jigsaws pieces. If it matches one of your own of course. The Courage dragon symbol lets you draw the top Courage tile from the pile. If it is one of the blue backed tiles, you can immediately use it, if you wish. The dice symbol lets you roll and move one more time. The Cave symbol lets you move to one of the unoccupied cave symbols on the board. And the arrow symbol lets you move in any direction for the amount of spaces shown on the tile. One, two, or three spots. The brown tiles can be stored for later use. These allow you to subtract or add one movement from a dice roll. Very useful in this game! Moving onto an exact spot can be tough. But essential in this game. You can also re-roll dice, flip tiles, enact the Island Shakes action twice on your turn, or when you are enacting the Island Shacks action, you can choose to move the tile the opposite direction of the arrow during this part of your turn. As you move across the island, you cannot go onto the trees or move diagonally. You can move over other players but you cannot end your movement on the same space as anyone else. You must complete your full movement and you cannot ever backtrack. As such, landing on specific spaces can be quite tricky! During the Island Shakes phase, as you move the tiles, and re-arrange the board, you mind will be full of different possibilities. This works very similarly to Labyrinth, and is by far the best bit of the game. It's not just about the tile you move, but the other three that will slide along into its spot. How will this affect you? How will this affect the other players? It's a lovely decision to make each turn. The first player to visit all four of their icons will win the game. You can also play a few variations by having just a single move each turn instead of two rolls, or by making each icon you land on a mandatory movement. Is it Fun? Wild Island is a delightful game. It is full of charm and character. Just like the book and film. If you are a fan of the original story then I think you will love this and I would strongly recommend checking this game out. Everything in this production has been based on the recent Netflix adaptation, and children who enjoy the film are going to love this game. As you can see below, the visuals are exactly the same. So, the only question remains is if this game is right for you if you have no plans to watch the film, or simply do not want to, and were never a fan of the book. if that is the case, I am impressed you got this far into the review. But I would suggest, that maybe some of the charm has grabbed you. If you enjoy games like Labyrinth, then you will enjoy this too. It has the same mechanic and idea to it. It is perhaps too similar to own both, but if you don't have Labyrinth in your collection yet, and you prefer this theme, then this could be for you. Although, there are a LOT of different Labyrinth theme's now! I can see this game being enjoyed a lot whilst my children are young. It is definitely suited to under 12's. Time will tell if the game continues to be enjoyed beyond then, however, either way, I will cherish this in my collection for years to come. As I love the movie and art style this is as much of a collectable as a great game for me.

Hello Kitty And Friends A Lotería Game WBG Score: 6.5 Player Count:1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Bingo, Hello Kitty. Published by: The Op Designed by: (Uncredited) Lotería has been around for years. Since the fifteenth century in fact. It is Spanish for "lottery" and is a very close cousin of Bingo. It has played a huge part in the cultural history of Mexico and Italy. It has been used to help entertain the masses, teach children the language, whilst helping to represent Mexican heritage. Netflix are making a movie about the game. Google honoured the game with one of their doodles. But now, it's the big time. Hello Kitty have branded their own version of the game. Surely the highlight for this epic game! ;) Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. Set Up Now, bear with me. This is going to take a while. Give each player a player mat and shuffle the deck of cards. Place the tokens and cards in to the centre of the table. You are now ready to play. Still with me? Tricky one isn't it! How to Play Now, turn over the top card and read out the name of the card and/or number. Each player will then check their own unique player board to see if they have this character on their mat. If they do, they can mark it off using one of the shared tokens. If not, they simply wait for the next card. When all players are ready, the next card is revealed. The game will continue like this until one person meets one of the various winning criteria. This is to have a run of four horizontally, vertically, in each of the four corners of the board, or in a two-by-two box. At this point they must shout "Super cute." The drawn cards are checked against their winning symbols and then if correct, they are declared the winner. You can also play a more traditional way, where someone acts as a caller. Revealing the cards one by one. But instead of saying their name or number, they reveal a verse or riddle based on the cards appearance instead. Players need to guess as best they can which card they think the caller is referencing, and mark off as appropriate. It's a fun way to play both for the players marking off the cards as well as the caller. In fact, its my favourite way to play. I love being the caller, but my children rarely let me have the chance! They love it too. Is it Fun? If you have played bingo or Lotería before you will be very familiar with this game. It does not bring anything new to the table other than the Hello Kitty theme. If you have other copies of this game already, then I would suggest you would only want to consider this if you are a collector. Or a huge fan of Hello Kitty. If you don't own a copy yet and have young children then I would encourage checking this out. My seven year old daughter played this five times on the first night we received this copy and immediately declared this as her favourite game of all time! As a 42 year old man, I feel I must bow down to this opinion over mine for this game. The player mats are nice and thick, as are the tokens. The cards however are a little flimsy which is a shame as you will be shuffling them a lot. But the art style is wonderful. For any Hello Kitty fan you are going to be in heaven. They really pop. It is not all Hello Kitty though. The game has the usual 54 deck of cards as seen in a traditional game of Lotería. And along side the characters from Hello Kitty, the designers have included iconic images from traditional Lotería games. Many cards also have the Spanish name and description, meaning this game can be used to help teach Spanish to younger players. Just like the original games. Marking off the pictures as you play is a great word to pictures association skill. Ideal for teaching younger players new words in either English or Spanish. As such, I would certainly recommend this game to anyone looking for a game to play with younger children. Its a great way to help young children learn a language in a game environment. Everything in this game screams joy. It looks bright and vibrant. Every time my children play it, they sit and play with the components for ages afterwards. They have enjoyed copying some of the pictures, drawing their own versions of the characters. And making up stories about the cards in the game. To see the beauty of this game you need to see it through the eyes of a child. Thankfully I have been able to do that and it has brought us all a lot of fun.

Loading WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-7 You’ll like this if you like: Captain Sonar, 5-Minute Dungeon, Happy Salmon. Published by: Lumberjacks Studio Designed by: Marc Paquien In order to stand out, party games need to do something special to stand out in today's cluttered market. There are so many games released now, and many of them seem to be quite similar. As such, it takes a lot for a party game to really interest me. However, when I was first introduced to Loading at UKGE, I was instantly blown away. The game can be taught in minutes, and instantly creates what every good party game should. A lot of laughter. Let's get it to the table to see how it plays. Set Up Deal each player a boost card, placing the rest back into the box. This is placed in front of each player. Then lay out Stop cards relevant for your player count and place these into the centre of the table. Then, shuffle the main progression deck and deal them out into equal packs to each player, leaving one person with no cards. That player has to place their palm out, face up, ready to receive a deck from another player. You are now ready to play. How to Play The player without a deck starts the game by shouting "3,2,1, load!" and then each player will begin to look at their deck. They will be looking for the lowest card to place down to start their stack. When they have taken one card, they will hand the rest of their deck to the player with their hand out ready to receive a deck. They will then in turn place their own hand out, ready to take the next available deck. When they get this, looking through your second deck you are looking for a card that is closest to the card you first placed into your stack. Ideally moving up by the smallest increments in ascending order. They don't have to be consecutive, but they must always be superior. If you ever see a card that is directly one place higher than someone else's current top card on their stack, you can instead place this card from your current deck onto that player's stack. This means you can then take their Boost card, if they have one, and place it in front of you instead. If you feel there are not many, or any cards left in either deck that would work for you, then you can discard the deck you currently have, meaning no player can access it, and take one of the Stop cards from the centre of the play area. You will place this on the top of your stack to show you are done for this game. Your boost cards are now safe from being taken by other players. The game continues like this until there are no Stop cards left, or one of the deck of cards runs out. At this point, any player must shout 'Stop,' and all players must immediately cease playing. Each player will now check their progression cards are all in ascending order, and if so, count up the green rectangles on their cards to total their score. One point for each one. Any card that is not ascending is simply discarded. The player with the most points wins. You will notice that some of the cards are coloured. This is for the expect mode, where cards can be easily identified in order to add in one extra rule. Cards of the same colour can be played in top of each other, ignoring the ascending rule. Either on your own stack, or onto an opponents in order to steal their Boost card. There is also a two player mode where 10 random progression cards are discard and three decks are created. Each player takes one deck and the third is placed into the centre of the play area. The game then works as usual, apart from when you want to exchange your deck. Instead of passing to another player, you will place it onto the table and take the other deck that was there. There is also one extra rule to stop player's ending the game too soon in this player count. At the end of the game, if you don't have at least nine progression cards and you were the player to take the stop card, then you must give one of your progression cards to your opponent. Is it Fun? Loading is incredible fun. I have not played this game yet without immediate, raucous, and constant laughter being created! Any game where players are rushing under the time pressure of doing something faster than other players often creates a good buzz. This, coupled with the real-time nature of checking through and then passing of the decks, along with the simple game play; means Loading is as sure fire a winner as any party game can ever be. If people don't like real-time games where you are rushing then this won't be for them. People who don't enjoy a noisy game will also struggle with this. But that is probably the only group that won't instantly fall in love with this little gem. I love the organised chaos this game brings. Loading is a small box game, but with a huge presence. Each game I have played Loading it has generated a fair bit of noise. Shouting. Laughter. Accusations of poor deck passing! (Which is covered in the rules to be fair). And a whole lot of enjoyment. This is party game heaven. I can see this game coming out to my table whenever I have a large group as the perfect start to any game night. The two player works but it has a lot less going for it. For me, this is for five and up and best played with the full seven. If you get a chance to play this, I would give it a go. You may well have a new favourite party game.

Voids: Memory Meets Matter Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Memory Games. Published by: Teleporthole Games Ltd Designed by: Andrew Klinkenberg This is a preview of a prototype copy so some things may change in the final game. Hence no score above. Voids: Memory Meets matter is hitting kickstarter in November 2022, you can find more information here. If you want to see how this plays there is a simple video here. The game will available as a PnP or fully published game at an affordable price. Voids works as a solo or multi-player game, with a co-op and competitive mode. It is very easy to learn, and offers some lovely strategic choices. Backers will be able to get involved in the campaign, voting on the type of cards that will be made, and even access STL files for a 3D custom box for the game. But how does it play? Set Up Place the tiles face down on the table in a seven by seven grid like above. Place the worm hole card in the very centre, and the stacked coloured Matter Pool cards in the four corners. Then each player will choose one of the four coloured tiles to play as, and will place this into the centre of the table over the worm hole card. You are now ready to play. How to Play On your turn, you will be moving your playing tile one space orthogonally out towards the four corners. You are looking to collect three of the Matter Pool cards, returning them to the central worm hole card in order to win. This is a race! However, as you move, you will un-cover different cards as you go. These will either help or hinder your progress. Each space you move to you must pick up that card and bring it into your hand. You can only ever have two cards in your hand, so if you ever must take a third card, you need to play one of the three you now have into the space you are moving from. When you play a card, you must play it face down. Ideally, remembering what you placed in case you come back this sway again. When you play a card in this way you can use it's power. If you don't lay a card, this will mean that as you move, you will leave spaces behind you where you have been. Void spaces. These cannot be moved through as easily without certain powers, otherwise you must use two turns to cross them instead of the usual one. You can use the reverse of your player card to show progress here. As shown with the double blue triangle above. The Warp is the first power above on the far left. This card when played allows a player to move in a straight line as far as they choose until they are blocked by the edge of the game board, a void space, or one of the light/dark tokens. The central card above is the Void card. When you pick these up they must be removed from the game instantly. This increases the amount of void spaces on the board. The far right card above is the Matter Bridge card. This allows players to fill previously created void areas and move through them in one turn. Other cards that will block players are the light and dark cards shown above. You can play these cards face up on any face down game card to slow down other players. In order to get through these spaces, you must either take two turns, or play the opposite card onto it to remove both from the game. The middle card above is the boost card, this allows you to move two spaces on your turn instead of the usual one. When played, they would only allow you to move one space if encountering a light/dark space though. Co-Op Play You can also play this game cooperatively by making a few slight changes to the rules. First, cards held in players hands are available to all players on all turns as a collective resource. Essentially, players can share cards. The light and dark cards that are found are left flipped face up in the space they were and will not block any players movement. However, as soon as the opposite card is found, both are then removed from the game, creating voids in the board. Finally, voids can only can crossed using a matter bridge in this mode. You cannot move through using two turns like in the competitive mode. The game is won by returning the required amount of matter pool cards to the centre. This is determined by player count and the level of difficulty you want, from two in an easy two-player game up to seven in a hard two-player game. Solo Mode Solo mode works much the same way, with the same rule change for light and dark cards, and the matter bridge. There is also a score to try and beat, ranging from five in easy mode to 12 in hard mode. Is it Fun? I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys small box strategy games that require good memory, forward planning, and depending on the game mode, either good team work or the ability to scupper another players plan! I enjoyed the competitive mode over the solo and co-op myself, as I found the cards and ruleset better suited to race style take-that game. Trying to out manoeuvre your opponents, and collect the matter pool cards first was a fun challenge and process for me. Whereas the other modes felt to much like solitaire. If the cards were in my favour, I will do well. If not, I would not. Whereas the competitive game mode created a lot of tension and I enjoyed the race element this created. In the solo and co-op mode it's more a matter of trying to do something before the board became too full of void cards. Which is quite simple once you get the hang of the game mechanics. As such, it felt more like a campaign style progression as I moved through the levels of difficulty as I developed with the game. Just ticking off each level of difficulty as I improved my understanding of the game. However, I can see how others would love this development. I myself love it in other games such as The Mind. I will watch this campaign with interest, and am keen to see what other game's this designer brings to the table over the coming years. There certainly seems to be an interesting ramping up in their ambition from project to project. I am glad I am here and able to enjoy their games at this stage in their development.

Galileo Project WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Ganymede, Starship Captains, Published by: Sorry We Are French Designed by: Adrien Hesling Wow, what a game a game this is. 2022 has been an amazing year for games, but it seems to be ending on a huge combo heavy high! Galileo Project is the spiritual successor to Ganymede. A 2018 release, where players compete to get their settlers to Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. Now, with Galileo Project, set 30 years later (in the game world) rival companies are battling it out to control Ganymede and the other three moons. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. Set-Up First, place the main game board into the centre of the table. Then shuffle the Robot cards and draw five of these, placing them face up into the top row on the main board. Then do the same with the character cards, placing them on the bottom row. Then sort the technology tiles into the four types and lay them out on the board. Two of each for a two and three player, four for a four player game. Place the Z tile, on either side, next to these. Next, select four of the goal tiles and place them out on the board as well as the robotic project cards. Then place out the Megacredits and Energy tokens onto their dedicated spaces. Each player then takes their own player board as well as all the components in their colour, placing their four moon trackers onto the zero space. Then draw out some robotic project cards equal to the number of players plus one. Each player will choose one which will set their starting resources and the level of their first robotic project. You are now ready to play. How it Plays Players will now take it in turns to carry out up to three actions on their turn until either one player has acquired their tenth robot card, or the character deck becomes exhausted. Their are two tracks on the main board showing influence on either Earth or Mars. Your first available action, which is optional, is to spend a Megacredit to switch your marker to the opposite tracks. You would want to do this because your second available action, which is mandatory, is to hire either a character, acquire a robot, or develop a technology. If you are hire a character or acquire a robot, you can only do this for one that matches the colour of the track you are currently on. The cards are either red or blue, and you need to decide which card you want on your turn, move to the matching track, and then spend the required number of influence to take that card. The final action, which is also optional, is to claim one of the four goals, if you have reached it's requirements. Each goal has space for up to three markers. The first person to place their marker can put it into the first space which will score more points then the second or third spot. So, this is a bit of a race. You can lower the requirements of a goal if you want to try and achieve it before the other players by spending energy. Each energy spent you can lower the requirements of one goal by one cost. When you hire a character, you will immediately gain the influence shown on their card. Moving your marker on the influence track by the corresponding number. This influence is used to buy robots. So, you take the characters to get your influence up, then spend that influence on a later turn to acquire the robots. However, the character you hire will also give you an instant one shot ability or end game scoring condition. This is decided by your current position on the influence track. Each character card has a immediate ability shown on the top of the card and an end game scoring option on the bottom. These will either be red or blue, mixed up between the top and bottom of the cards. You will either carry out the top immediate ability if that matches your current track, or tuck the card under your player board for the end game scoring. At the start of the game you can only place two cards here, but you will have the ability to upgrade this during the game. When you acquire a robot, you first pay the influence needed, making sure you are matching that robots influence colour to the current track you are on, and then you can place that robot into one of the four spaces around your own player board. Each robot card will show different moon images. You can place the robot into either space that match this symbol. You can then resolve that robots ability which will be to either gain extra Megacredits, take an extra character and use one of their abilities, increase the level of one of your robots, or use one of the benefits on the Z tile. These vary from gaining extra credits, influence, energy, or characters, or you can increase the level of one of your existing robots, develop a new technology at a discount, or achieve one of the goals, even if you have not met the requirements yet. The more robots you have of each type, the more you can use their action. For example, if you place your third miner robot, you will take three Megacredits when you place this card down instead of just one. This is the beginning of where the joy comes from in this game. Strap in! Increasing the level of your robots is important for a number of reasons. As you add more robots to each moon, or when you increase an existing robots level, you can move the tracker at this moon up the corresponding number of places. As you move up the tracks, this will increase your end game score, but also brings additional benefits depending on the the different moon's. At Jupiter you can develop your ability to acquire robots for a lower influence cost by spending Megacredit's. Europa's track allows you to gain energy. Ganymede improves your hiring a character ability by giving you the chance to resolve both benefits on the cards instead of one and build up to collecting up to six characters instead of the starting two for end game points. And Callisto increases the value of your most common robots at end game scoring. Either scoring one, two, or three points for each robot of your most common type. Developing technology is the last main option available to you on your turn. Each technology has a requirement that needs to be paid shown on the top left, and then it can be placed above your player board. The different technologies offer various benefits, including gaining Megacredits, acquiring new Robot cards, being able to move up by two influence each time you choose to shift tracks, and using characters from the discard pile. The game ends when someone has control of at least ten robots, or the character deck runs dry. At this point, you will complete the final round so all players have equal turns, and then score for each player position on the four moon trackers, characters they have hired, technologies they have developed, and goals they have achieved. Most points, unsurprisingly, wins. Is it Fun? Galileo Project builds on what made Ganymede so good, and turns the combo dial up to 11. Any game where your powers develop as you play and your ability to do more powerful things on your turn increases is generally a game I will enjoy. But you have to feel that you earnt this to make this a truly fulfilling experience. Galileo Project brings this feeling in a big way. Spending a Megacredit to move tracks to acquire a robot which when placed at a specific moon, allows you to increase a Robots level by using the Z tile, which in turn, allows you to fulfil one of the goals, increasing your end game points on both the Moons position and goal tracker is well, phew... incredibly satisfying! So much in this game is about doing this particular action in order to do a second. Take card A to move on Track B. Planning out your turns in this way is deeply rewarding and leaves you with a huge sense of gratification. Especially if it means you end up winning the game. But even if you loose, just making your turns as efficient as possible and seeing development in your abilities as the game progresses will bring you great joy. Some games with combo-tastic turns can create unnecessary complications by offering too much choice, in terms of the actions available to you on your turn. But in Galileo Project, this is not the case. Most of the time you will be simply hiring a character to increase your influence or using previously gained influence to acquire a robot to develop on the moon tracks. But within this simplicity, there is the feeling of a lot of choice and control. Of course, each time you chose a card, be that a character or robot, you are picking from one of five cards. And each card will have a different top or bottom affect if it is a character. And for the robot, the choice of which moon you want to develop, which type of robot you want, what their cost is, and what their current level will get you too. Which all starts with the colour of the card and determining which influence track you need to be on. There sure are some layers. All of this plays over a 45 minute period, or a bit longer with more players. Giving you the feeling of playing a crunchy rewarding game, that is relatively simple to learn and play, but one that offers tense, exciting, and rewarding turns and game development. And as I said, all in under an hour. The holy grail of board games. The set-up is simple, the gameplay is incredibly streamlined, and the learning curve is very low. I taught this to my nine year old son in under ten minutes, and he ended up beating me on his first play. I love the way the game develops on the story from Ganymede. You won't especially feel this as you play the game. It's a little abstract in truth. But the theme they are trying to implement is interesting and everything looks bright and colourful. The components are all high quality and feel good to play with. I would recommend this game to anyone who is looking to progress from their current collection of gateway games into something a little more complicated and rewarding. This is the perfect "next" game to play with someone new to the hobby, to show them what modern games are capable of. I would imagine most who play this will enjoy the combinations that you can develop, and will come away from the table wanting to play again and again to develop their understanding of the game and overall score. I certainly have struggled to get this one off the table, and can see this game easily making my top ten for 2022.

Cóatl WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 1–4 You’ll like this if you like: Roll Player, Azul Published by: Synapses Games Designed by: Pascale Brassard, Etienne Dubois-Roy Cóatl is a stunning game to look at. The components are great and the colour scheme make this game really pop on the table. But how does it play? Let's get it to the table and find out. Set Up Set the circular board into the middle of the table with the scoring side placed faced down. This will be used later. For now, you want to use it as a supply board. Now place the three hessian bags out, and fill the supply board with 12 body pieces, and two heads and two tails. Each player will take one of the player boards and three sacrifice bonus tokens in their chosen colour. Give one person the starting player marker. Shuffle the temple cards and deal one to each player then leave the rest in two face up piles by the supply board. Then shuffle the prophecy cards and place six face up into a general supply, leaving the rest in a face down deck. Then deal cards out to each player as required. Three to the first player, four to the second, five to the third, and six to the forth. Each player can keep three, but must discard the rest. The game is now ready to begin. How it Plays Players will take it in turns to take one of three actions. They can either add new pieces from the supply board to their own by choosing one head, one tail, or two grouped body pieces. Or, they can take one or more prophecy cards from the face up supply and add them to their hand. There is a hand limit of five. Or finally, you can build your Cóatl. This can be done by starting a new one, or adding to a previously started Cóatl You can never have more then two being built at once, and no more then three built through the entire game. You are looking to match the cards in your hand to the Cóatl's you are building. For example, a card may require there to be two green pieces next to two red pieces such as the central card below. If you can take these pieces from the supply then add them to your Cóatl, when you finish the Cóatl, by either adding the final head or tail piece, you can then fulfil up to four prophecy cards using this Cóatl. Any cards that have been fulfilled can be added to the table by this Cóatl and scored at the end of the game. Some cards can be scored more than once for their required configuration, such as the black and green card's below, which can be scored up to two times. If the requirements of three reds in a row for the black card, or a green and black to have at least one other coloured piece in-between it for the green card are met twice in the same Cóatl you can score this can twice. Gaining you six points for the green card or seven for the black. At this point, you can also either assign the temple card from your hand, or one of the two face up temple cards to your finished Cóatl, which would add further end game points. Based on the length of the Cóatl, and the colours used in it. The temple cards have two requirements and if you score one of them you will gain an additional three points. If you can fulfil both requirements, that will score you a further seven points. At any point, instead of playing a usual turn, players can use one of their three sacrifice pieces instead. They allow them to do one of three powers. First, you can use one to pick any two pieces you like for your Cóatl from any of the three bags. The second allows you to discard the six face up prophecy cards and as many as you like from your hand and redraw six new cards, and then draw up to five new cards to your hand. The final sacrifice token allows you to take one of the face up temple cards and reserve it to use at a later point in the game. Very useful if there is a card there you want to use, but your Cóatl you want to use it for is a few turns away from completion. This stops another player from taking this temple card for themselves instead. When a player completes their third Cóatl or the body segments run out the game will end. Flip the supply board to show the pint scoring side and each player will place a body part of their colour into the first space. Each player will then total the points scored from their prophecy and temple cards for each of their Cóatl's, moving their coloured body part along the score track as they go. The player with the highest points will win. In case of a tie, the player who used the most cards with their completed Cóatl's takes the victory. Is it Fun? Cóatl is an abstract strategy game. As much as this looks beautiful and has an interesting theme, this is all about how you can best use the cards at your disposal to score as efficiently, and as quickly as possible. Much like games such as Azul, you will be very much focused on your own game experience as you play, not really paying attention to other players, other than from the fact that you are all drawing from the same pool of body parts and cards. However, there are enough options and ways to manipulate your strategy to not be too affected by what other players around the table do. As such, this is a somewhat solitaire experience which I very much enjoy. The rare occasions when your game is affected by another player it will be even more rare for them to have done that intentionally as they will not know what you are aiming for as your prophecy cards and temple goals are all known only to you. So, if you are looking for a game with high player interaction, this is not for you. Where the fun comes from in this game is through the constant fulfilling of small objectives and the tight game play. Many games use this strategy to reward the player with a constant sense of progression and satisfaction, and Cóatl does this very well. But crucially, as you can only add so many cards to each Cóatl, and as you can only build three Cóatl's in total each game, despite being able to fulfil card's requirements quite regularly, you can still only do it so many times in the game. This creates the perfect balance of making something special whilst also allowing it to happen regularly. The tight gameplay comes from the player board and the restricted total of pieces that you can hold at any one point. As your player board is limited to eight pieces, when this is full, you cannot take any more and must start constructing your Cóatl. However, you may not be ready to do this yet. You may still need one or two more pieces to score as effectively as you want. But you cannot do that. But you cannot wait for ever even if you wanted to as the game could end. The balance between the race element of this game and the pint scoring options works so well together. The game is highly visually appealing. The colour and chunky body pieces feel great on your finger pads (as the great Gamecasters says!), and look wonderful on the table. And the sense of progression as you make on Cóatl work for multiple cards feels great. Take the example above where these ten piece's without any blue, fit the temple card perfectly for seven points. They can also can be used for these three prophecy cards with two green preceding two reds fulfilling the first yellow card. (The head can be used for this). A green and black being separated by another piece of another colour meets the green cards requirements. And three reds all being placed next to each other delivers for the black card. A 16 point Cóatl. You can get a lot higher than this fulfilling more prophecy cards, and fulfilling some of them multiple times. But remember this game is a race. First to finish three Cóatl's ends the game. You don't want to be caught out making the perfect Cóatl that will score you in the high 20's if other players are making smaller Cóatl's that will end the game quickly. I would recommend this game to fans of games like Azul, that are looking for a game that offers a similar sense of satisfaction but with a different theme. This sounds odd for an abstract strategy game where the theme is secondary. But that ultimately is the choice with abstract strategy games. There are so many out there. A lot of them are very good. So, you have to separate them some how. And theme, funnily enough, is the best way I would suggest. Azul still rules this world of games in terms of sales in the abstract market. However, I would suggest Cóatl is almost as good a game, and for me, more visually stimulating. It's a shame the pieces, although very good, are not more solid. They are hollow and feel a little light. And the player boards are a little too thin. So, this is another area where Azul edges it, with the production. But from pure gameplay, I would argue this is the perfect complimentary game to any Azul fans collection and one that will bring a lot of joy to a lot of tables.

Hiroba WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 2–4 You’ll like this if you like: Sudoku, Rune, Blue Lagoon. Published by: Funnyfox Designed by: Johan Benvenuto, Alexandre Droit, Bertrand Roux Sudoko burst onto the scene via apps, newspapers puzzle pages, and magazines in the 2000's, after being a huge part of life of Japan for years. It surprises me that you don't see more games utilise the Sudoko mechanics. However, Hiroba certainly does, and builds on this simple puzzle idea to create a very interesting game. Let's get it to the table to see how it plays. Set Up Take nine of the board tiles and place them at random into a three by three grid. For a two player game, flip over four tiles to create a smaller game area, and for a three player game, flip over two tiles. Then place a Koi pond token onto each pond square, with the water side showing. Each player then takes a player board and their nine numbered pebbles of their chosen colour. Give the first player two stone tokens, and one to the second player, then if you have four players, the third player also gets one, but no more are handed out in a three player game. You are now ready to play the game. How to Play Starting with the first player each person will place one of their pebbles onto the board. On your first turn, you must place your first pebble onto one of the starting spaces marked with concentric circles. On subsequent turns you must place each pebble into row or column of a previously placed pebble. Like Sudoko, you cannot place a pebble into a row, column, or garden area where another pebble with the same number has already been placed. You also cannot place your pebble onto a space where there is already another pebble, a pond token, or a stone. Obz! Each pebble is double sided, and when you place them you can choose which side to use. As an optional action, if you have one, you can then place a stone into any space to block the other players from being able to go there. Play continues until all pebbles have been placed, at which point players will check to see who wins each koi token. They are given to the player with the lowest accumulative score in each space above, below, or beside each one. In a tie situation, both players take a koi token. Players can then place the koi tokens, flipped to show a x2 symbol, into any garden they have majority, in order to double their scores there. Any unused koi tokens will score one point at the end of the game. The winner is then calculated for each garden based on the numbers shown on each pebble. So, in the example below, blue would have 17 in the bottom garden and zero in the top one. Red has five in the top garden and eight in the bottom. Red will then score two points for the two squares in the top garden they win. And blue will score 12 points for the bottom area, taking into account the x2 multiplier. Once all garden's have been scored, the winner is declared. Is it Fun? Playing Hiroba is a calming, but challenging experience, that I think many puzzle fans will enjoy. The mechanics and setting are all very calming. The gameplay is quite focused to your own game. Obviously you can affect what other players can do by placing your own pebbles, and the game is mainly about area control. But it feels like a solo game with the other players all working as bots against you. It's a strange feeling, but one that works incredibly well for a game of this style. I enjoy the placement rules, and the challenge this creates. Only being able to place pebble's onto rows and columns where you have already placed one before, whilst having to observe the Sudoko rules of not matching numbers in rows, columns, or gardens, makes this first phase highly strategic. You will want to control the larger gardens, but you also need to defend gardens you have placed pebbles at previously, if another player overtakes your score there. This is so you don't waste previously placed pebbles. But, let's face it, mainly as in area control games, players get very defensive! Wanting to control what they have. And defending what was once theirs! But if you focus too much on defending gardens you once had and have now lost, you may lose out on other areas. Gifting other gardens to other players. You need to try and spread your pebbles around the board as far and wide as you can, whilst not spreading yourself too thin, and loosing control in each garden. It's a delicate, challenging, but enjoyable challenge. The scoring is very satisfying. Being able to double your points with the koi pond tokens is a great reward for being able to place your pebbles in the right places in the first phase. The way these koi tokens are distributed is very clever. Making it about the lowest scores in the surrounding spaces, instead of the highest scores, makes each pebbles at your disposal valuable. You will want to place the higher scoring pebbles into the larger gardens, away from the ponds. And the lower scoring pebbles next to the koi ponds, into the gardens where you hope you can win by the odd point. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys abstract strategy games, puzzle games, and obviously Sudoko, and is looking for a game that works in this way. Hiroba has created a beautiful, small box game, that distills a wonderful sense of strategy and interplay, in a very focused and satisfying way. I think people who enjoy solo puzzles will enjoy this a lot, and will find the interaction with other players set to the perfect level. I can see this game getting a lot of plays. Games last between 10-20 minutes depending on the player count, and set-up and teach is done in minutes. It's a perfect travel, or pub game. And I have found to be the perfect, 'we have a short amount of time before we need to do something else' game. Pre dinner. Before we go out. Before we start a bigger game with others we are waiting to arrive. This game is the perfect filler experience. I very much the experience of playing Hiroba. I enjoy the challenge it presents, in the speed of game it offers. I know I am going to be making some interesting decisions, but in a game I can take from the shelves, set up and play and finish all within under half an hour. This game is highly accessible but also rewarding. I think it could have benefited from some variation with additional tiles, using extra rules for symbols or tokens you can place on the tiles. Something simple like a marker on some tiles that have to see an even number placed on it. Or, maybe something more complex using a gardener meeple that moves around and blocks certain gardens when present. But outside of that, this is a wonderfully produced, very enjoyable puzzle that I will enjoy for many years to come.

The Mystery Agency: The Vanishing Gambler WBG Score: 9 Player Count:1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Puzzle Post, Unlock Series, Exit Series Published by: The Mystery Agency Designed by: Henry Lewis By Steve Godfrey It’s not often that you can sit down and play a fun puzzle game and then immediately watch the mastermind behind it all on TV playing a drunk Santa, the Angel Gabriel and an understudy Scrooge. This of course begs the question, have I picked all of these specific roles of Henry Lewis’s because they’ve had our family in tears of laughter?. Or because I’m writing this in November and as far as I’m concerned it’s nearly Christmas? Well in both cases….Yes, yes I have. This is a spoiler free review. Any pictures, descriptions etc you’ll see will be in keeping with things that you’ll see on The Mystery Agency website. To start playing simply open the box, scan the qr code on the inside to take you to the website that will let you choose which mystery you’re solving. Then pick whether you want to play this with a timer or in your own time. Then, get solving the mystery of the vanishing gambler! The mystery component. When you first open this box of delights you’ll encounter a scrap of newspaper, some shredded paper, which if you don't remove carefully, will nicely decorate your table and a padlocked evidence bag. I’ll be honest I got a bit excited when I saw the padlock. I’ve played a lot of styles of puzzle games at this point and this is the first that I’ve played to have this sort of physical component. At this point everything seems quite minimalist but it’s a good clue to the quality of everything else you’ll find once you get into the bag. If, like me, you got excited about the padlock then just wait until you spill the rest of the components onto the table. Some poker chips, great quality dice and even a torch are amongst the bundle of fun things you’ll find in this bag that go to make up a part of your puzzling experience. What’s the most exciting thing in here though? Well anyone who’s had multiple Christmases with young children will know that seeing a battery is like a gift from the gods! It’s worth the score of nine alone! I know I've gone on about the components for quite a bit but they really add a brilliant tactile quality to the game and as board gamers who love us some good tactile pieces this is really going to up the appeal. Trust me, once I’ve let some friends try this out I’m definitely going to be trying to find a use for everything in this box. I might use the padlocks to lock up the kids' devices. Let’s just hope the teenager hasn’t remembered the code! But what about the puzzles? Won't someone think of the puzzles! More and more puzzle games have gone further to innovate to keep the puzzles fresh. From folding paper components, using the box as a clue, to these days using the power of technology to add to the experience. This is the first game outside of an actual escape room (that I’ve been aware of anyway) that uses physical components like this and to be quite blunt with you, they’re a ton of fun. The physicality does bring you in mind of an actual escape room where you’ll be interacting with items in much the same way. It adds a whole new element to it and a satisfaction that you can pass someone a set of dice and say, “you solve that and I’ll get to work on the poker chips” One of the fun things here is that, yes there are puzzles that you could (if you’re playing with others) hand off to people and let them work on separately, but there are also puzzles that will bring everyone together to work on purely because of how they're presented. I know it sounds cryptic but trust me it’ll all make sense when you see it. I’m always a fan of when these types of games innovate and cleverly use different mediums to help not only give you new and exciting ways to be presented with puzzles, but also keep the story flowing. That’s done to great effect here because what you get in the box isn’t going to be the only resources at your disposal. It's a great way to let designers of these games think outside the box and find new ways to tell a good story alongside these games. Again I’m aware I’m being cryptic but trust me, you’ll thank me that I am. Sweet little mystery. The puzzles in this box are clever, engaging and a lot of fun to solve. We always know when we’ve hit a good puzzle game when we lose count of those celebratory high five moments when we solve a puzzle. It’s better still when we manage to do it off our own backs. It’s such a satisfying feeling. That being said, any hints we did use only served to give us a nudge in the right direction. The Vanishing gambler gave us a really good challenge. It was enough that we weren’t flying through the puzzles, but not too difficult that we weren’t having to get the solution and still end up having a confused look on our faces. There’s nothing worse than being given a solution and knowing that there was no way you would have solved it on your own. One last little touch that I liked is that it gives you a choice whether or not you want to use the timer. It’s a nice choice to have, I usually prefer not to have a timer. If I’m not in an escape room then I don’t really want the pressure of having to solve these in a set time. For me it kinda takes some of the fun out of it but the fact that it’s an option to have it is great if you're in a group or are someone who likes that challenge. One oddity we did have in our game was the first padlock to open the evidence bag. I seemed to solve that one pretty quickly. I know that sounds like more of a boast than anything but I know I’m not that clever and I couldn’t imagine it would have been that simple (don’t worry I won’t tell you what I did). So I went back and checked the hints when we’d finished and as it turns out I’d managed to open the lock using a completely different code. It’s strange because it hasn’t opened with that wrong code since. It reminds me of a similar thing that happened in an actual escape room. Not sure what happened, maybe I’ve developed some kind of intermittent code breaking superpower. Whatever it was I’m beginning to think that I should change careers and become a safecracker. All Mysteries come at a (reasonable) price The Mystery Agency games do come in at a little bit more than the puzzle games that were used to. But trust me those components go a long way to justify that price and it’s going to be cheaper than going to an actual escape room, even more so if you split the cost with your friends. The great thing is that the game is fully resettable so once you’re done, set everything back and pass it onto your friends for them to enjoy. They’ll love you because you given them a fun experience in a box, but end up resenting you because now they have to buy the others, which you can then borrow thus completing the circle of life…..or puzzles in this case After playing and enjoying this box we now need to try the other two in the range so you can rest assured I’ll be badgering anyone I can to go in with me to grab the other two. If they sound like something for you and your family or group, jump on over to https://themysteryagency.com to grab yours.

Puzzle Post Series WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-8 You’ll like this if you like: Mystery Agency, Unlock Series, Exit Series Published by: Puzzle Post Designed by: Bobbie and Will By Steve Godfrey Getting an envelope in the post can be a mixed bag. It could be anything from a bill, a tax rebate or even a birthday card gleefully telling you that you're old, losing your hair and grumpy. Birthday cards from my mum get harsher each year! Luckily Puzzle Post have arrived to bring a lot more fun to your mail, This is a spoiler free review. Getting started is simple, open the envelope, take out the contents and separate each piece (you’ll get two copies of everything) and read the setup story. Keep an internet ready device with you, preferably a tablet but you could use anything and get solving. This ain’t no snail mail The first thing you’ll notice as you pepper your table with the contents of the envelope is the thing I love most about these games. Every puzzle is presented as an everyday item. Across these three games you’ll have business cards, menus, book excerpts, tickets and even food jar labels. They’re ordinary objects but weirdly enough that’s a brilliant twist for puzzle games at the moment. Another twist is that these are normal stories in each game. By that I mean stories of blackmail, scandal and corporate drama rather than ancient artefacts and mad scientists like you may find in your Unlock or Exit style games. Think more Eastenders rather than Indiana Jones. These are a lot more fun than Eastenders though so please don’t let that put you off. The normality of all the components adds such a thematic element to each of the games and throws you right into the story. Everything ties together really nicely. The puzzles you're faced with in each envelope are a lot of fun and of course very different. I mean aside from that January when I tried to convince myself I was on a diet, I’ve never stared that intensely at a food label. It’s a ton of fun looking at things like restaurant menus and trying to find where they’ve cleverly hidden the puzzle. Of course this means I’m now a nightmare choosing food in a restaurant because I'm trying to solve the menus, but I’ll take that any day if it means I get to have this much fun. Pondering ordinary objects aside, one of the things I’ve noticed between all three of these envelopes is that you won’t necessarily find the same type of puzzle repeated. It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean without spoiling anything but for now I’ll just say that just because you’ve used one type of resource in one game, it doesn’t mean it’ll be used in another one. I love that they’ve done that. It keeps each one of these fresh. You won’t find yourself opening this envelope and looking for where the word jumble puzzle is for example (that’s not a spoiler). I’ve seen that happen in puzzle games before and it’s a massive disappointment when that happens. The last thing I want is to predict every puzzle's solution the second you look at it just because I’ve had previous experience. Normally I play these games with at least my eldest teenager and possibly my other daughter and for the majority of puzzles games that’s a good number. I find that with too many people it tends to get a bit crowded and it could be easy to find people left to the side as the components get passed around for people to investigate. The wonderful folks at Puzzle Post have obviously seen this and decided to solve it by making second copies of each of the components. It’s such a simple solution. Now I know that in most cases it wouldn’t be possible or even cost effective to do this, but in the case of these envelopes it’s something I appreciate massively. For the three of us it’s nice to have the option to either work together on one puzzle or share a couple between us. If you're in a bigger group it’s an elegant solution and as someone who has played an eight player game of Sherlock Holmes: consulting detective and felt very left out (not a fault of anyone there) it’s a very welcome one. Post that will make you think. These certainly present a good challenge and seem to have a good mix of difficulty in each envelope. There have been a couple in each that we’ve gotten fairly quickly that have given us that little spark of joy and confidence that it’s nice to have early on. Some have required a bit more thinking but this makes it all the more satisfying when the penny drops, you feel that twinge of excitement and you feel a little bit smug with yourself with solving it and well you should. Then you get the odd one or two that you maybe need that extra hint or two for. This of course is just how we found them but overall I’d say that each of these will present a good challenge for the majority of people. Having played three of these now I can safely say that these are some of the best things that will drop through your letterbox. They present a uniqueness that sets them apart from other games in this genre. Once you’ve played one there’s definitely a familiarity between each one that eases you in, but each one is different enough that you will have a different, fun experience with each one. It’s the type of post we all need to receive.

WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Blue Lagoon, Cartographers, Ganz Schon Clever. Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group Designed by: Matthew Dunstan, Brett J. Gilbert In a first for WBG, we are going to review a game twice. The awesome Tom Harrod has already covered this game with a brilliant review that you can read here. But after becoming somewhat addicted to this game over the last few weeks, I felt compelled to offer my two pennies too. So, strap in for some serious gushing. I won't go into how this game plays, as Tom has already done a great job of that in his review. So, instead I will go straight into why I love this game. Tom scored this 8/10. I have given it 9/10. The main difference between Tom and me in terms of our thoughts on this game is the lack of player interaction affects Tom's thoughts more than me. Also, Tom felt there was a missed opportunity with the lack of stuff you actually explore, as he mentioned in his review. But for me, I love everything about this game. I agree with Tom's thoughts, he is right with his points, no question. It's just that the head-down, focus on my own little world aspect of this game is something that I love. I am ok with the lack of interaction, and enjoy absorbing myself in this world. Now, don't get me wrong, if every game was like this, I would be less inclined to rate it this as highly. It would be more of a problem. But obviously that is not the case. There are thousands of games out there. And some focus in a huge way on player interaction, and I love that. But I think that then leaves a place for a game like this, that removes the player interaction, and instead focuses on oh so juicy combos and point salad scoring loveliness. It's why most of us own multiple games. Different games for different itches. Initiate Gushing But, my favourite thing in this game, hands down, are the bonus cards you can draw each round. You will always have a choice of two. This will not be a case of which of the two is the best. They will both be awesome. They are all awesome! You will want them both, all the time. It's more a case of working out which one will works best for you in the current game situation you are in. But they are all incredible. I love decisions like this. I love choosing between multiple good things. So many games offer a few good things, where a player could take the best thing and leave another player with a slightly less good thing, and so on. This can leave a bitter taste. It becomes a race to be the first player. So games like this where they give everyone great things, all the time, is a welcome relief for me. This game makes everything good. It's fun. And that's what board games are about right? Too much gushing? Oh, I'm only just getting started. I look forward to the part in each round, which will come about every five minutes or so, when you get to choose one of these amazing cards. It's a genuine thrill each time. Even when it's cards I have had before and used recently. They are still great, and give you the chance to do some very exciting things. An "Essential" Game The awesome Gamecasters recently inducted this brilliant game into their "Essentials" collection. A group of games they all agree would be the perfect game in any collection, especially if you are looking to start a new collection. A game that would suit most players and play styles. I could not agree more. They only have nine in their essential line currently, it takes something to get onto this list. I could not agree more with their choice to put The Guild of Merchant Explorers into their essentials collection. The main thing that grips me with this game is how much it delivers, from such a simple rule set. When you set-up a complex game, with lots of rules, and multiple mechanics and components, you expect to get a lot from the strategy in the game. Putting more effort into learning and setting up a game raises your expectations for what you will get out of it. Now, you may enjoy some complex games just as much as this game, but that reward comes from a much bigger give. The Guild of Merchant Explorers gives you a huge reward for a tiny ask. As such, I think it's only fair to praise a game like this when it packs so much into this incredibly simple ruleset. I could teach this game to anyone within a few minutes. You can get started almost immediately. In order to run this game, because you are simply flipping a few cards, and then all players are taking the same action, I could play this with any new player, lead the card flipping myself, and just explain the options available as we go. You could be up and running within minutes and by the end of the first round, which would take five minutes, all players would know the game. And with only four rounds and a few cards played each round, games can be as quick as 20-30 minutes. But you will feel like you have made the strategic decision's needed in a much longer and more complex game. This game is all out the pay off. Very little effort. Massive gain. Variety? Each game feels very different. Despite the fact that you are always drawing the same cards. Sure, the cards come out in a different order. But the inputs into your decision making vary very little game to game. However, the outputs swing in a huge way. The four different maps help here. But I played the game on the start map multiple times now and each game felt completely different. You don't immediately need the other maps for variation. The game gives you that on it's own. However, the other maps are awesome! And I cannot wait to get my hands on the expansion maps to see what they bring! But this is one of those games where you would welcome expansions, but it doesn't need them. It is just so clean. So well constructed. The beauty is in the simplicity. And similar to games like Ganz Schon Clever, you are happy to just rinse and repeat the same experience over and over again. This game for me is still as fun, still as appealing, as till as exciting as it was on game one. So, onto the things I don't like. The name. It's terrible. That's about it. But it is a bit of a generic, easily forgettable name isn't it, let's be honest. I regularly pronounce it wrong. Merchant Explorers. Guild of Explorers. Just a bit of a generic mouthful, with too many words. But who cares. The game is phenomenal, and firmly on my list for a chance to be one of my games of the year.

Disney Sorcerer's Arena - Thirlls & Chills 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 three-on-three skirmish game set in the wonderful world of Disney. The only difference in this version of the Disney universe, is they all want to kill each other! The only extra thing you want with this game is more characters. They already delivered three great new iconic Disney heroes/villains to play with in the first expansion, and now the second expansion is already out. Bringing three great new characters. You can read what I think of the main game here, or check my thoughts on the first expansion here, or head straight on to see what is new with this second expansion right now. I wont go into the set-up or how to play with this expansion as you can get that all from my first review of the main game, but if you want a brief summery, here you go. Two players (ideally, but it does play up to four) will choose three Disney characters. Each player will place them onto the board at either end and will be dealt a hand of cards based on their characters hand limits. Players will then take it in turns to play one movement action to get their characters closer to the central scoring areas, and the opposition. They will then play one action card to attack the other players. You can also use special skills as per each characters own unique abilities. If you can force an opposing character to zero health you will claim the points their character is worth. First player to 20 points wins. It sounds simple, and it is. But the card play can be very clever, and the characters are obviously adorable! So, with that out of the way. Let's get to the good stuff. With this second expansion, which new characters do we have to play with? Mother Gothel Coming from 2010 release Tangled, younger Disney fans perhaps may be more familiar with this character than those of my own 80's generation! But my daughter was very excited to see her included in this game. Mother Gothel likes to be stealthy with her attacks. Stealthy means she is harder to hit. She can also use her skills to make people banish one card from their deck, or let her remain lurking in the stealthy shadows. Because running out of your deck is one way to loose this game, this means Mother Gothel remains stealthy for most of the game. She has some pretty impressive attacks, but be careful not to pair her with other Princess characters. Some of her attacks affect multiple characters on the board if they are a "Princess." Including those on her own side! The Horned King Anyone seen the 1985 Disney release, The Black Cauldron? No, me neither. But check it out, it looks pretty cool! Anyway, the Horned King is the bad guy in this film, and in this expansion, he has some pretty unique skills. The Horned King comes armed with three tokens that he can place onto the board using certain cards and whenever he gains points. These can be moved each turn using his special skill, and when they are close to other characters, The Horned King can use them to attack from afar. As such, it makes sense to use the Horned King as a sniper of sorts. Staying away from the centre of the board where most characters usually charge, and attack from a distance. If you can activate his special skill, meaning you flip his character card to gain an additional skill, the tokens can be used passively each time. If The Horned King starts his turn with these tokens next to any opponent, they will inflict one damage to each nearby character. This makes these tokens very useful weapons. And The Horned King, a very interesting character to play with. I had not heard of him before, but he is now my favourite character to use in the game. Jack Skellington Now, onto this expansions' superstar! Jack Skellington is the beloved protagonist of The Nightmare Before Christmas. One of Disney's most argued over films. Not because people don't love it. Much the opposite. Just people love to debate if this is a Christmas or Halloween film! But for me, its 100% a Halloween film that can be enjoyed anytime of year, so who cares. I think this, as this is what the many people involved in the making of this movie said! (Haha!) But also, it's true. Anyway... Jack is awesome. I love everything about this character in the movie, and the same can be said about the character in this expansion. Jack introduces a new trait, "Afraid." He can force this onto opponent's almost at will, which encourages them on their turn to run away from any opponents or be forced to incur two damage. It's a great addition to the many traits in this game, and perfectly suited to Jacks' character. The new characters work perfectly with the existing ones from the main box, and the three that were previously introduced with the first expansion. I enjoy playing this game with all the characters, but getting new ones is always a treat! It makes me want to try all the new possible combinations and new possible teams. As with the last expansion, I am a little disappointed with the choices. I don't know if this is licencing reasons, but it does seem like they are choosing some 'B' list Disney characters each time. But Jack is 'A' list for sure, and he more than makes up for the other two. But as I mentioned above, The Horned King is amazing! And Mother Gothel was a big addition for my children, so maybe that is just a generational thing? The new standees are gorgeous. And much like the ones in the original box, look stunning on the table. They come with a protective cover on, which is a nightmare to peel off though. And this time, I used a knife to help, and I did scratch the Horned King a little here as you can see. Which was most upsetting! If anyone has any tips on how to remove the covers from these standees (other than just patience!) I am all ears! I would recommend this game to anyone with children that love these characters, or to anyone that is looking to get into skirmish games, and wants a nice, gentle introduction to this form of gaming. I would recommend checking this expansion out as I think they have done something a little different with The Horned King, which I particularly like, and think it adds a nice new dynamic to the game. The designers of this game seem to do this with each expansion. Adding not just new characters, but new rules, traits and components. The previous expansion introduced the water tiles, which are nice. But these Horned King tokens are a game changer for me. I hope they bring more of these to the table with future expansions.