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Barrakuda WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Deep Sea Adventure, Into the Blue, Arboretum Published by: Helvetiq Designed by: Isaac Pante Barracudas are not the most enticing thing when it comes to swimming, but they certainly do evoke intrigue. There is something mystical about fish with teeth. Especially the long wriggly ones that look like snakes, they are strangely captivating. Well, thankfully there are no Barracudas here. Only Barrakudas, which are totally different. I promise. Barrakuda is a push-your-luck, bluffing game, with some very clever hand management thrown in for good measure. For such a small box, there sure are a lot of mechanisms here. Let's get it to the table. Set-Up The game comes with six starting cards to build the ship wreck area. There are 12 cards in total to chose from, but the rules recommend to play your first game with the starting ones, clearly marked as such on the back. You can lay them out anyway you desire, so long as they all touch at least one other card with one of their four sides. Each player then choses which colour they want to be and takes the six cards of their colour, plus their two coin holding cards and meeple. Place the coins in a central space alongside the two dice, and each players take two coins to start with. And that't it, you are ready to dive. How to Play All players will then pick one of their six cards to play. Everyone starts with the same cards. A one, two, three, four, five, and Barrakuda card. Which ever card you play determines which space on the board your meeple will visit that round. There are some more obvious choices with higher rewards, or useful powers, depending on the stage of the game. But you don;t want to go there when another player is heading the same way as your actions will be restricted. This is where the bluffing comes in. Everyone plays at the same time, revealing their card on the count of three. Players will then move their meeple to the card they played. The two dice are then rolled and the Barrakuda is moved in the direction of the card rolled on the regular D6, the number of spaces the movement dice shows. Any player who is left on a space on their own, with no other meeple or the Barrakuda, can then take both actions on the card shown on the bottom left and right of the card. Generally this is how you get coins and your cards back that you had previously laid. But there are some other special actions too. Such as being able to store any money you have and forcing another player to lose their Barrakuda card. If you are on the same space at the Barrakuda, then you most give up all of your unsecured money, and drop up to four coins on the space you are on and any more you may be carrying into the reserve. You can then only do the general action on the bottom right of the card. Anyone who is on a space with another meeple needs to identify who has the initiative. This is determined by the player who has played the least amount of cards down on the table at this point. That player can then take both actions on the card they are on. Any other player can only take the general action. As you play cards down, they must stay on the table. Any subsequent cards are played on top. You can only take cards back when you move to a card that allows this, or after you have played all your cards. When someone plays a Barrakuda card they can then move the Barrakuda in any direction they wish. They do not have to roll the direction die, just the distance die to determine how far they can move it. Their aim obviously is to move it towards the nearest other player. As you collect money from the different ship wrecks, you will place all your money onto your cash card. But, when you visit the number one space you can move up to seven coins to your safe, or all of them if you are using the alternative One card. This money is now secure and safe from any Barrakuda attacks. In order to win the game you need to have eight or more money in your vault. You can play to 10 gold if you want a longer game, and there are different ways to set up the board to create a more or less aggressive games. And there is also a team mode where all players share a single vault. Players can discuss which cards they are playing before they select one each round, and players are looking to get 12 gold coins as a collective. Playing Barrakuda is a lot of fun. I enjoy push your luck games where you have some control. I like the feeling where you know you can take calculated risks. That is exactly what happens here. You know where you are on the board. You know where the Barrakuda is. You know if your opponents have played their Barrakuda cards yet or not. You know what options are available for all players and what they may be going for. You know the risks. Of course, sometimes you can get unlucky. But the games are all very quick, and I have never felt frustrated by the luck in this game. When you do have a larger sum of money in your possession, this is when you need to decide how much you are willing to take a risk. When you are packing, it's best to visit the "One" space and bank your money. When you have less to loose, you can afford to worry a little less. But of course, this is all relative to how well the other players are doing. The alternative treasure cards you can use allow you to add some flexibility and variety to the starting set-up. None of them drastically change the game, but that's not really needed. Everything is well balanced and clearly very well play tested. They just allow you to tailor the game to your preferences. I like the opportunity to make small changes to the set-up and to tweak the balance slightly here-and-there. For example, you can see with the replacement “Four” card, you can claim three money instead of the usual two, but there is no general action. So, adding this card in is a good way to increase the push-your-luck element of the game. Bigger rewards, but no back-up plan. People will be tempted to go there, but will be more cautious of doing so when they think other players may do the same. Heading to this card first up is a good way to get a head start. But will every player do this? Or will they think others will, so they go somewhere else instead? Or is that a double bluff? This is similar with the alternative “Two” card which offers the chance to get two cards back instead of one. But again, with no back up action. If ever there is more than one person at these spaces, the chances are you may have a wasted turn. They entice you in, but may not reward you when you come. Bit like Dominos Pizza. Playing Barrakuda is a lot of fun. There is a real sense of risk/reward felt by all players throughout the game. But it is a risk that I feel in control of. I enjoy push-your-luck games but understand how others can find the punishment from failing in these style of games to be off putting. That isn’t really a problem with this game due to the control you have. But also as the punishments never feel overly severe, and the games do run short. If you lose, just set-up and start again. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys quick filler games that offer a low to medium weight game experience, but still with a real sense that a game has been played. It's a bit like Fantasy Realms or Libertalia in that way. You only have a few cards to choose from, but the choice feels big. It feels important. And when it pays off, it feels great.

Invaders From Afar WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-7 You’ll like this if you like: Scythe, Terra Mystica, Root Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier Scythe holds a special place in many peoples hearts within this great community of ours. It was many peoples first "big" modern board game. For a lot of gamers, it was their first or early introduction to Kickstarter. And for me, it is one of my favourite games, from one of my favourite publishers. It is very much worth making this clear from the beginning! However, I would like to think this review has no more bias other than my own passion and enjoyment for board games. That said, I rate Scythe a 9. Whereas this expansion is an 8.5 for me. The reasons for that will become clear as I continue, by for brevity, it is not an essential expansion unless you want to play the game in a seven player. What it brings is good, and I love the variation of the new factions, but there is nothing hugely new with this expansion, but in my opinion, Scythe doesn't need that. But if you want it, you get that in expansions like The Rise of Fenris and The Wind Gambit. This expansion was mainly designed to bring more variety and choice in the factions you can choose to be, and to give the game the chance to stretch from a five player to a seven player, and in true Stonemaier style, it does so with real class. Let's talk through all the added parts this expansion brings. The main addition within this is box are two new factions. This gives you the chance to play the game in a six or seven player when added to the five original factions, or just have more choice at the start. Not many people would encourage you to play Scythe in a seven player game due to the length of time this would take, including designer Jamey Stegmaier himself! But I would argue differently. In a six or seven. Scythe is fantastic. Now, this does come with two conditions. One, that all players know how to play the game well. Two, that no player takes too long with each turn. Otherwise, it can drag a little waiting for your turn. But the board was designed with seven players in mind. These two new factions are not a shock. Their symbols are on the main board in the base game already. The size and layout of this board was always made with the full seven player sat around it. It works great in all player counts, and I really do enjoy Scythe in a two or three myself. But I do feel every fan of Scythe needs to try it at its full player count at least once. And to do that, you need this expansion. Now of course, you can use this expansion without getting six other friends to join you. You could play a two player with this expansion and just use these two new factions if you wanted. So, the factions bring more than just additional player count to the table. They also bring more choice and variety when it comes to choosing who you want to play as at set-up. Lets take a closer look at what each part brings. The first new choice you have are the two new payer mats. I like to have more option here. I have got used to the original mats, and two more to pick from is a nice addition. The second new addition is the two new Faction mats. Let's look at each one in a little more detail. First up we have the mat for the Togawa Shogunate faction show Akiko and Jiro. This is my favourite of the two new factions as it gives you the option to place a trap token on a tile after you have finished your movement. So long as you don't enter combat, you can add one of your four tokens to the board as a trap for another player. The trap token counts as a territory for you, increasing your end game scoring if they are still present at the games conclusion. As such, other players will want to remove them. But when they do, they must flip the token and pay the penalty. This will either be to lose four money, three power, two popularity, or discard two random combat cards. It's a fun risk to have to take when you remove the tokens, and of course as some go, you can get a chance guess what may be left. Their mechs have the ability to move a mech or character across a river or onto lakes, gain two power before combat, and re-arm disarmed traps. The Togawa Shogunate look like a very attack minded faction on face value, with the trap tokens and mech abilities. But I find they are better used in a defensive manner. You will start on the bottom right of the board, which is an area you may not have paid much attention too before, and you will find you have direct access to every resource unlike the other factions, but no speed function in your mechs. I quite like to build up my resources and engine, defending my territory with traps, and leaving the rest of the board and players well alone. The second new faction is the Clan Albian. After ending movement, this faction also has the option to place something down when not in combat, this time a flag. The Clan Albian have four flags at their disposal, and each hex with a flag on it counts as an additional territory at the end of the game as long as you control the tile. The flags cannot be moved once placed like the traps, and are a great way to increase your final game points. The Clan Albian's mechs allow them to cross rivers into or out of tunnels, reduce your opponents power by two when in combat, add two to your own power, or move to any territory that contains at least one of your workers or flags. This faction will not start in a part of the board as unfamiliar as the Togawa Shogunate, but will still start with direct access to all resources. I very much enjoy the variation these two new factions bring to Scythe. The addition of the two very different style of factions is hugely welcome to me. Neither factions start the game being blocked by rivers, so they don't have the speed ability to counter act this. But the rivers are not just about stopping you from moving out, they also stop other factions being able to easily move into your space. The tokens both factions have are ways to encourage players to explore the board with more efficiency, but also travel back to your home base with more speed. So, now to answer the three questions I always ask myself when I play a game with a new expansion. Is the game better with this expansion included? Did it add much complexity to the set-up, rule teach, and game play? Would I want to include the expansion every time I play? 1. Is the game better with this expansion included? I would say yes. I like the new factions and would personally always prefer to play with them over the original five, simply as they are new, and I have used the other ones so much. So, yes for the variation, but not necessarily in a seven! It is not an essential expansion unless you want the higher player count, but it is essential if you want more variety. Which I would say very much depends on how many times you have played Scythe and how often you think you will play it again. 2. Did it add much complexity to the set-up, rule teach, and game play? None at all. Once you explain the new tokens, which takes a minute, anyone who understands Scythe with be able to get to grips with this expansion right away. 3. Would I want to include the expansion every time I play? Yes. As I said above, I will always prefer to use these new factions myself, both to play as and against. I like what they bring and what you have to do when up against them. So, for me, it is essential. Not for the player count. but the variety. But that is only because I love this game so much and play it regularly. All in, I am a big fan of this expansion and would always want to play with it when playing Scythe. It doesn't add anything dramatically new to the game just two new factions and the chance to play up to seven if you want. But as I said, there are other expansions out there for Scythe that bring in other things if you want that. This won't make you like Scythe if you were not already a fan, but if you are, then I would say this is a must have if you are looking to get something new for this game and you think you will continue to play Scythe regularly. It is of course totally essential if you want to try the game in a six or seven player. And very useful if you want more choice when choosing factions. And so, only one thing remains. Who wants to play Scythe with me? I am looking for six other players...

Psychobabble WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 4-11 You’ll like this if you like: The Chameleon, Dixit, Werewolf Published by: Cheatwell Games Designed by: Kedric Winks I was instantly drawn into Psychobabble. It made my top 5 game games from indie publishers from UKGE2022, which you can see here after I was first attracted to their stand by the striking and gorgeous art. Just look at it. And having now played the game multiple times, with various groups, I can safely say I am a fan of the game too. The game will feel very familiar to anyone who has played Dixit and The Chameleon. It feels like a mix of those two games to me. But crucially, it takes the good bits from both, and drops the bad parts. Let's get it to the table. Set-Up Getting Psychobabble to the table is so easy. Simply take the two decks of cards out of the box. there are four different decks of dream cards clearly marked by the colour on the back of the cards. Lay out a four-by-four grid of random face up dream cards using the large deck. Taking four cards from each of the four different decks, using the same four cards from each deck for each row. Then place the small deck into four separate piles, face down, in their corresponding groups or A, B, C, and D piles. The small deck shows all the possible combinations of a two dice roll, linked to a four-by-four grid. Someone decides to be the Psychiatrist, and they will take small cards from one pile, enough for everyone playing minus one, and one card from another. They will then shuffle these cards and hand them out face down to each other player who all act as patients in the game. One player will have a different set of numbers to everyone else, but will not know. They are the insane person. The Psychiatrist must now roll the two dice. Each player must find the roll on their card and then determine which dream card represents their collective dream from last night. For example, if a one and a five was rolled, the dream card on the bottom left is your card if you hold the above small card, so will start to study the card showing four prawn type creatures on the bottom left of the four-by-four grid. You must also look at all the other cards to start to get an idea of one similarities and differences that exist within the 16 cards. This is so you can offer vague clues as to which dream card you have, and guess which dream cards other players have. How to Play. Then in turn, starting with the player sat to the left of the Psychiatrist, the first player will then give a one line description of their dream. They want it to be specific enough so that other players do not think they are the insane person, but not so specific that the Psychiatrist can guess exactly which card they are referring to. It is hard to get this balance right for some people. Especially on the first game. So, I encourage people to just go with their first instincts for game one as they all learn the nuance. But to be as vague as possible. Once each player has given their one line description of their dream card, each player can then ask one question of any other player. They are trying to find out who the insane player is. The insane patient is trying to remain hidden and cast doubt over other players. Although of course, they may not have identified themselves yet. More than one person may think they are the insane person. Or, no one may think this! The Psychiatrist then has the chance to ask each patient one question to try and determine the dream card they were referring too. Patients can lie at any pint when answering questions or giving descriptions. But of course this may encourage other players to assume they are the insane patient. You need to asses how close to guessing the correct dream card the Psychiatrist is, and how close to identifying the insane patient all the other players are. Once this is done, the Psychiatrist must then make a guess as to which card was the common dream card. If they are correct, they win the game. Hence, all the other players needing to make their descriptions vague. If the Psychiatrist is wrong, then all patients cast a vote as to who they believe the insane player to be. All players then reveal their card to reveal who has the odd one, and is the insane patient. That player may have already worked this out for themselves, and has been casting suspicion onto other players to try and divert the attention from themselves. Or, they could be completely unaware of their true roll. If the majority vote chose the insane patient then all those players win the game. If not, then the insane patient wins alone. Playing Psychobabble is a delicate mix. You want to prove to your fellow patients that you are not insane, but you don't want to make it too obvious to the Psychiatrist which card you are referring too. You also don't want to make it too easy for the insane patient to work out which card you are talking about as they then themselves, can also start talking about that card. But if you are too vague, then everyone may start to suspect you! But the great thing with the game is the line of questions that follows the first phase. If you are too vague to begin with and cause other players to doubt you, then you can always claw your way back when asked about something by another player or the Psychiatrist. However, other players asking you questions, doubting your own sanity, are never 100% sure of their own sanity either! I find it is best to assume you are insane in this game. Don't think you are the sane one, rather start the game with your head focused on trying to find out if the other players have any similarities with each other or yourself. Thinking you are the insane one, and being as vague as possible with everything you say. Often, I find that in the first game of Psychobabble, players are too obvious with their descriptions, trying to prove they are not the insane patient, when they don't know if they are or not, before the question round has even begun. This makes it too easy for the Psychiatrist to guess the correct card. But as players learn how to play the game, and how to read each other, something special happens. It's not dissimilar to games like The Mind when you start to get in sync with each other. Players begin to understand each others little clues and tells. The descriptions get more vague, but players playing as the patients start to understand and trust each other more, and the game begins to get a lot harder for the Psychiatrist. This makes for a much better and funnier experience. It is satisfying for the Psychiatrist to get the card right for sure. But not if it is too obvious and easy. They want a challenge. But the games where I have seen the Psychiatrist have no clue at all are often the ones that create the most laughter. All the cards are incredibly detailed and have multiple things going on. You find that despite them all looking very different and quite unique in their detail, common ground can be found between a lot of them. Ships, or modes of transport. Monsters, aliens, or animals or some sort. Describing one in a vague way, could be interpreted for describing many others. And this of course, if the entire point. Many games of this nature require one person to be "it". One person who is randomly selected to be the Werewolf, Chameleon, or whatever the chosen person in that game is. Some people find this pressure to lie to others too much. The genius in this game is that if you are "it" you won't immediately know. And if all patients play the game well, you may never know until you reveal the cards as the end of the game. I have seen games when all players are convinced that one particular player is the insane patient, the suspected person included. But when all patients reveal their cards, another person was the insane patient all along. And even they did not know. You don't lie in this game, you just play the card you were given as vaguely as possible. Now of course, there are some occasions when you can work out quite quickly that you are the insane person. And then, you may have to lie. Or least be very vague or deceptive. But even then, it's not like other games where you are desperately trying to work out what the correct card is, and which dream all the the patients are tlkaing about. Panicking that you will easily outed. The cards are all so random, and have so many similarities, then even if you have no idea which the real dream card is, you can till play the game well, simply by being vague. As such, this game has to come very highly recommended from WBG. It plays as good as it looks. Can be set-up and taught to any group within minutes. It does not cause the usual anxiety games like this can bring to the table. And always delivers a huge amount of fun, laughter, and will be a real favorite of mine for many tears to come I am sure. You can find more about this game at the product page: https://cheatwell.com/products/psychobabble?_pos=1&_sid=dbd290e63&_ss=r And also at the site for the designer here: www.ghastlygames.com And of course on the BGG page here: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/360264/psychobabble

Kinoko WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Hanabi, Point Salad, Tucano Published by: Helvetiq Designed by: Tim Rogasch Helvetiq have two types of games it seems. Small fun after dinner games that are simple to play and great fun to enjoy with friends after a meal. Or even smaller games that look unbelievably cute and are even more simple to play, but still offer some clever and enjoyable experiences for families to enjoy. It must be such a joyous brief to work to, and they always deliver. Here are some of my favourite games from Helvetiq as well as my thoughts on some of their other games. But what about this game? Kinoko. The latest in their line of small box games? Let's get it to the table and see. But before we do that, can we all just come together and say well done to artist Polina Ozean for creating the cutest little mushroom we have ever seen? Ok, great, on with the review. Set-Up The first thing to get to grips with in Kinoko is which way to hold the cards. The concept of the game is very simple. Collect three mushroom cards in your colour. But you are doing this without being able to see your cards. Similar to games like Hanabi, you must hold the cards facing outwards, so all other players can see what you have, but not you. You can see other players cards, but not your own. To set-up, collect as many sets of cards as required for your player count, four for a two player, five for a three player, and six for a four player, and shuffle the cards together. The cards will either be a one, two, or three value card, three for each colour of mushroom. Then deal each player in secret one blank colour card. They will look at this, but keep it hidden from all other players. This will be the colour they need to collect in the game. You will then deal one card of each value to each player so that everyone has a one, two, and three value card in their hand. The remaining cards are placed face down in the centre of the table, again in order, one, two, three. How to Play Players then need to try and identify where their three colours are and get them into the same set. On your turn, you will roll the three dice. You can chose one of the three dice and carry out its action. This will either be to exchange one of your cards, either the one, two, or three value card, with any other card of the same value on the table. Or you can chose to enact one of the three special powers. The first allows you to re-roll all the dice. The second allows you to swap all three of your cards with any other set of three on the table or from any other players hands. The final one allows you to sneak a peak at one card anywhere in play. From your hand, or from the table. When you are swapping cards with those held by other players, you obviously are doing so knowing exactly what you are taking. But also, you are going to find out what card you have given away, as the player taking the card from you will immediately flip it and hold it out towards you in their hand. This is a great way to learn about more cards in play as well as putting something you want into your hand. Now, what is crucial in this game, is that the set of three you are trying to build in your colour does not necessarily have to be in your hand. It just has to exist in the game somewhere. It could be on the table, in your hand, or in your opponents hand. This is a tricky concept to get your head round, and can add a fun dynamic if players around the table are trying different ways to win. If you are trying to get a set of three in your hand, but another player is trying to get a set of their three colours also in your hand, there could be a funny back-and-forth, before both players realise what is going on! You will always know which colour of mushroom you are trying to collect somewhere in the game, but won't know for sure which colour your opponents are going for. Although, seeing everyone else's cards gives you an idea as to their plans once everyone starts taking turns. As such, the ability to spoil other players plans becomes quickly apparent as the game develops. As soon as one player thinks they have three colours of their mushroom together somewhere on the table, they can stop the game, announcing their hope/knowledge of their set. Then, all cards are flipped and revealed and if they were correct, they score two points. However, any other player who also has a set of three anywhere in the game at this point will also score two points. This could of course happen with their knowledge of this being the case, or not! But you have to be careful. If you make the announcement and stop the game and you do not have a set of three, you will not score any points. Rather all the other players around the table will score one point each, irrespective of their own status at that point. The game is won when the first player scores four or more points. If two players get to four at the same time, the player who stopped the last round wins. This game is very much a set-collection game, but also a race game. You are looking to achieve your goal of a set of three quicker than anyone else, round-by-round, but also overall getting to four points first in the game. Looking at other players cards feels cheeky! It's a fun way to learn information about the game, but will take some time to get used to. Especially if you haven't played a game with this mechanic before. Each time you pick up your cards, your brain will instinctively do so with them facing you! So, you must check yourself, and restrain your instincts. Swapping cards with other players in order to see what cards you were holding is a fun way to gain information in this game. It also feels like the right thing to do as you are not giving anyone else any new information bar the person you are swapping with. All other players could see both cards you are swapping before hand anyway, they are just now in different locations. Although of course, the person you are swapping with gains information as to the card you took from them, which they can now see in your hand. Although, if you took it, you probably want it more than they did, so it is unlikely they will take it back. Unless of course, you are both trying to get a set into your hand! The game plays very quickly, and as you have seen, can be taught in minutes. It takes up very little room, both in and out of the box, so is the perfect game to take out with you to restaurants or pubs. Everything looks great. The art is bright and vibrant. There are no icons or special rules to master. It's just a bunch of different colours with sets of one to three. Everything is very simple, but also a lot of fun. Playing Kinoko, like all Helvetiq games, is a joyous thing. I love everything about this game and will happily play it anytime. It firmly sits in the filler category, so it wont take up much of your time. Or indeed, much space on your shelf or bag. But it certainly will take up a large space in your heart.

Karak WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: CoraQuest, Tiny Epic Dungeons, Starcadia Quest. Published by: Albi, 2Tomatoes Games, CreativaMente, Geronimo Games, KOSMOS, Outset Media, Reflexshop Designed by: Roman Hladík, Petr Mikša Rule Book A sense of adventure in games is something I often look for. Especially with a game that targets younger children. I know my family will enjoy a game more when there is a story to be told. We all enjoy getting lost in a new world surrounded by monsters, cardboard, and plastic. A lot of games do this, but I don't think there are many that do it well with a simple ruleset that works for kids. Karak nails this. It's very simple to learn and teach. I have loved playing it with my 6-year old who grasped the game within minutes. And crucially, it offers a good dungeon crawl experience without the usual fiddley set-up, components, or rules. Let's get it to the table. Set-Up Getting Karak to the table is so simple. Each player chooses a character from one of the six available and takes their character board (filled with hearts) and standee. Shuffle up and then arrange all the tiles into stacks face down, finding the one tile with the dragon symbol on the back. This is the starting tile. Place this into the middle of the playing area and add each character standee to it. Finally, ensure all the treasure and monster cards are in the draw string bag provided, and place this somewhere convenient on the table. Or not, depending on how irritating you want to be. My kids like to hide it. How to Play Players will then take four actions each in turns, searching for the Dragon. The main action being to move into an undiscovered zone. You will do this by flipping the top tile from either stack, and placing it next to the tile you are in face up. You will then move your standee into the new space. If this is a pathway you can do this again, moving through each tile as you lay it. If the tile has a room in it, then you must pull a token from the bag. This will either be a treasure chest that you can only open when you have the key, or a monster that you have to fight. Fighting a monster is a simple process. Take the two dice and roll-em-up! Each monster will have a face value you have to beat with your roll. If you do, you win. Flip the monster and take whatever is on the back. Either treasure, weapons, or a key. If you roll too low, then you take one damage, and retreat one space, back to wherever you just moved from. The monsters difficulty rating ranges from five to 12, with the final Dragon being 15. As soon as someone kills the dragon the game ends immediately and the person with most points from treasure tiles and the dragon is the winner. Whats in the box? But how could you fight a Dragon who has a strength of 15 when you can only roll two D6 dice? Great question. As you can see above, when you fight and defeat a level 5 Rat, you can then add a level one sword into your armory. Meaning, the next time you fight, you start with a plus one added to any die roll. On your character inventory sheet there is space for two weapon upgrades, the highest being the battle axe won from fighting the Skeleton King. Tool up, then go on a dragon hunt! As you can see, there is also space for the key. Useful for storing when there are no unopened treasure chests on the board. And three slots for spells. Spells come in two forms. Magic Bolts and Portal's of Healing. The Magic Bolts allow the heroes to add a plus one to any fight, but the spell is then used, and the token must be dis-guarded. The Portal of Healing lets you move directly to any Healing Fountain on the map. These are the tiles with a heart icon on them, and when there, your full health is restored. Children will love the simple progress the game allows. Flip a tile, roll some dice. Fight a monster, gain a weapon. Get better. Fight more monsters. Find the dragon, win! The game moves quickly and you will feel you are making progress through the game in no time. It's a nice feeling for children and adults alike. It has a nice pace and game time. And of course, the dragon could be found at any time. Drawing from the bag is random. But you will need a few upgrades before you can defeat him. I love how the boards are double layered so all the additions you make to your character stay in place. Double layered boards are always a winner with most people, and they work so well in this game. For a game designed for younger players, this is a solid addition! Children will also love the choice of characters. They are a little generic and full of the classic tropes you would expect in fantasy games. But I don't have an issue with that. They are used a lot as they are popular. And I find the art to be bold, striking, colourful, and the iconography is simple, and very clear. Each hero comes with two unique special powers. They are all clearly explained in the rule book, but the icons give very good indications as to what they are. For example, Lord Xanros, the Warlock who is the first on the left below has the ability to sacrifice one health point to add a plus one to any attack they make. Check the symbol for this below. Hopefully that all adds up? I particularly like the Stealth power for Aderyn, the Thief. She can creep into a space and if there is a monster there to fight, she can chose to do so, or if it is a little too strong for her right now, she can sneak past without engaging in combat and continue moving to the next tile. As you flip tiles, you will find the board starts to get quite big, very quickly! You wont need to move back and forwards too often. More, a linear path through a weaving dungeon will be created. But sometimes you need to head back to heal, or if one person finds the dragon and you want to rush back to join the fight, you may want to move vast distances quickly. This is not easy in the game with only four actions allowed, but there are portal tiles, represented by blue doors. When these are laid, you can move from one portal on the board to any other portal you chose, once there are two on the table that is! They are very easily identified with their bright coloured glow. Especially against the backdrop of the otherwise very grey tiles. The game comes with a brilliant insert too. For a game priced on the cheaper side, (you can get this for around £20) all the components are great. And the separated insert with different sections clearly marked with pictures of what goes where is a nice and welcome addition. Overall, I think Karak is a steller game, and would come highly recommended from WBG for anyone looking for a game to introduce their children to a dungeon crawler game. It is so simple to learn, but fun to play, kids will very quickly be able to play this one of their own. And if they enjoy the mechanics, perhaps would be more encouraged to try a more complex game in the genre afterwards. The game is perhaps let down from being more highly rated due to its lack of replayability. One game to the next will offer largely the same experience. But the six different heroes are all very different and offer unique abilities. And the game is so simple to get to the table, I can see this getting a lot of plays from it's accessibility alone. If you want to teach your kids how to play a dungeon crawler, look no further. If you want to get a game your kids can enjoy and play on their own, this could be the one. If you want a game you can all enjoy as a family with minimal set-up or rules, Karak is a great addition. There are so many reasons why this game comes recommended from us you may be asking why it is not ranked higher than a 7.5. There is a bit of randomness and luck in this game from the dice rolls, and the order at which you draw the monsters and treasures. And I found a lot of games to be won by someone with somewhere between 2.5 and 4.5 points. It is quite low scoring and children tend to not like that. First from the low, unexciting scores; but secondly from the small margins of loss. You could play the game perfectly, fight the most monsters, and still loose as someone else stumbles upon one more treasure chest than you. It would have made more sense to me to offer more ways to score, and give higher rewards for each monster you defeat. Other than that, Karak comes highly recommended from WBG. For the price point, I would say it is pretty close to being a must have for anyone with younger children. I would say this is perfect from 6 and up.

A Game About Counting Cats' Shapes & Colours that keep getting Trickier WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-8 You’ll like this if you like: Jungle Speed, Spot It/Dobble, Anomia Published by: Stuff By Bez Designed by: Bez Shahriari Bez is a amazing. Let's get that out the way from the start. I absolutely adore everything that Bez has made and find all her games to be made with equal parts joy, fun, and genius. Over the last few years, Bez has been up to all sorts of shenanigans with some crazy fun games being made. All with bonkers names, but each one delivering unparalleled fun. Such as A game about quickly grabbing creatures that are totally different, and watching out for turnips, which you can read about here. One of Bez's latest games is A Game About Counting Cats' Shapes & Colours that keep getting Trickier which is the name, and also, a pretty good start to the rule set. Set-Up Strap in, this could take a full minute! Shuffle the deck and place it face down in the middle of the play area. And that's the set-up! How to Play Playing this game (I won't use the full title again as I do need to keep up my kids from uni in 10 years) is so simple, but also, surprisingly tricky, although I suppose that could be deduced from the title. When everyone is ready, someone will flip the top card of the deck. The newly revealed card back will tell all players what to count on the back of the top card they just flipped. This will be various cat poses. Lying down, sprawled out, or curled up in a ball. Or scribbled colours. Everyone else then needs to count up how many cats of this type are visible on the newly revealed face up card, shout that number and then slap the card. The first to slap the card having said the correct number wins the card. Card backs either look like this... The wining player will then flip the next card and everyone will go again. When you are flipping the card, you cannot compete in the next round. A very simple catch-up mechanic that works very well. But as soon as that round is over they are back in. And here comes the twist! You know, one of those really fun twists you love to teach when introducing people to games like The Mind when you tell people "but you cannot communicate!" Well, in this game, whenever you win a card, not only do you now need to count up all the types of Cats on the back of the top card, but also the Cats in the cards you have won. When you have won just one and two cards, this is not too tricky. But when you have three and four in front of you it gets very tricky! You're starting to get the title now, right? And of course, you wont always be up against other players with the same amount of cards in front of them as you. So, the extra time you are now taking to count them all up won't always be the same as others when they have less cards. Crazy huh! Well, here comes the final twist. If you ever shout an incorrect number everything you have previous won goes back to the bottom of the deck. You are back to square one. ...or this. In order to win the game you need to be the first player to win five cards. This typically takes around 5-10 minutes, at which point every player will be starting to get their eye in for how this game works. And I guarantee, all around the table will all cry in unison, "Can we try that again?" This is a session game. You know, like a low alcohol session beer. Designed for drinking when you are planning on having a few. This game is designed to be played multiple times, game after game. And it is joyful. (Please drink responsibly). Counting Cats There is something special about these games. There is a whimsey, a childish innocence. But they are not novelties. They are good, solid, fun games. Sure, the theme's are funny. The names are different. But the mechanics, ruleset and actual flow of gameplay is always very good. Don't be fooled by the simple deck of cards, plastic bag casing, low price, or long name. This is a very good card game. And I would wager, if made by a larger publisher, would be up for awards and sell bucket loads. Whereas the front of the cards look like this. I enjoy playing this game a lot. There is a real sense of tension when you are going for your forth and fifth card. You want to say the number. You think you have the number right. But you know if you get it wrong, that's it, you are back to square one again! The risk/reward is high. Win the game, or start again. But as you can catch up quickly people do go for it. Winning one or two cards back when you are knocked down to zero is fairly easy when you are up against others with three or four cards. You can obviously count a lot quicker when you have less cards. So, people do take the risks. There is a perfect balance here. Which makes the moments when people win the game great for everyone. You feel genuinely impressed when someone manages to get the number right for that fifth card. not just in their ability to play the game well, but their courage to go for it when you know they were very much plagued by self-doubt! There is a shared moment of joy despite this being a competitive game. For the price and value this game offers, I would suggest it to anyone. What do you have to lose? I can see it not being fun for some people if they struggle with visual puzzles. It can be stressful if you are bad at this sort of thing, and others are finding it easier to match the top cards. But that's me. I am terrible at this sort of thing and very bad at this game. But I still love it. It's just too fun to care that much about winning. I enjoy seeing other people doing well and enjoy the moments this game creates. Highly recommend from WBG.

Drags to Riches is currently live on Kickstarter. You can check the campaign here. A demo copy was sent to me for a preview after I met the team behind this game at UKGE 2022. Drags 2 Riches is a deck-building game. Deck-building games are all about making what you start with better. A theme that translates well to what the world needs regarding certain attitudes! But, off politics and back to the game. Your goal is improve your personal deck of cards and win the game. It's been done many times, and perhaps most famously with the O.G. Dominion. BUT! I have not seen deck-building used in a game about Drag Queens before. In fact, I have not seen any game using any mechanic themed around Drag Queens. Come to think of it, I have not really seen many games at all that represent people from any part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community at all! Search for "Drag" on BGG, and you will just get a load of Dragons! As such, this game very much appealed to me. There are many things I love about the board game community. One of the things I love the most is the sense of inclusion it brings to all people. But we can only really say that when all people feel represented and included. As such, I think this game is very important. But is it any good? Well, I don't think that is as relevant as the question, it is important we support games like this? But for the sake of brevity, clarity, and as this is fundamentally a review website... yes, yes it's a lot of fun. How to Play In Drags 2 Riches, all players are looking to build up their collection of Hair, Heals, Make-Up, Outfit, and Accessories cards to become the most fierce Drag Queen around. All players begin the game with the same starting hand of level one attire and some money. On your turn, players will lay as many cards as they like using their cards for one of three things. Either as money to buy more cards from the shop. A special power as described on the card. Or as an addition to their wardrobe. You can lay one type of each card into your wardrobe to build up your characters overall score to compete for that rounds event. Each round, the top event will be revealed from the 15 event cards in the event deck. This will mainly be a chance for all players to compete for points ranging from three to twelve. On two occasions, a shopping spree will trigger, where all players get to draw two extra cards to increase there chance of a good upgrade from the shop, with no event being played that round. Meaning all players can use all card to shop with rather than build up their wardrobe. After everyone has had one turn, all players with then simultaneous vote with their thumbs after a count of three to show if they are competing for the event that round or not. Everyone who voting with a thumbs up must reveal all cards in their wardrobe. This will be between one and five cards depending on how full they have made it, and can only contain one card from each of the five categories. The player with the highest value wardrobe is deemed the winner that round and collects the event card. This will form their end game scoring. Everyone who had their thumbs up for this event must then discard their entire wardrobe, win or loose. And start building this up again in later rounds. This happens quicker than you first think, so it makes sense to compete for most events if you have at least a few cards down. Although of course this depends on how many cards other payers have down and your current strategy. Each round, you will draw five new cards. You will find most rounds you can buy at least one card so your hand will get better and better. As you start with only eight cards, the improvement in your hand will be seen quickly. This is a crucial part of what makes good deck-builders fun for me. I don't like being forced to wait multiple rounds before I get to see my new cards again. In Drags 2 Riches, you will benefit from your newly acquired cards generally by round two or three. This is very satisfying. I like the multiple use of cards too. Many cards can be used simply as money, or as an addition to your wardrobe to compete for the vents. But there are a lot of cards with some pretty cool powers too. Some incorporate the chance to negatively affect another players at the table using what this game describes as Shade. All cards with this affect have a sunglasses symbol on the bottom right to clearly identify it. When you play Shade cards these against other players, they can either take the affect such as being forced to give a card to you, or reveal their entire hand. Or, they can block it with any card with the hand symbol in the bottom right, or by playing the same Shade card to reverse the affect. You can also reverse a reverse, in a classic exchange of cards. "Nope!" "Nope!!" "NOPE!!!" There are also some very minor asymmetrical powers used in Drags 2 Riches which I love but think could be made more impactful. At the start of the game, each player choses a character to play as. Each one shows a different drag queen. They all have their own powers such as the ability to block a shade card, or being able to take the highest value card from the shop for free. All these affects are one time only bonuses. In a game with 15 rounds, I found this to be a little light in affect. I would have preferred either much more powerful abilities, or the chance to use them more often. When playing with my daughter Mya (six) she was disappointed that after choosing her character, she was not incentivised in trying to acquire the specific items her character was wearing. She liked the idea that she chose her character based on the outfit she liked best, and wanted to then try and buy each card that matched her characters clothes, hair and makeup. These cards are in the deck, so this could be done. You will recognise them as you play. But there is no incentive to do this, other than your own OCD or desire to dress your character in your preferred style. This feels like a very cool opportunity for a variant/expansion to me! (Feel free to call it the Mya variant if you include this Drags 2 Riches team!) This would add a bit of jeopardy as certain cards come out into the shop. Whereas currently, if someone buys a high value or powerful card from the shop you had your eye on, then it will just get replaced by another card and by the time it is your turn again, there is bound to be something good there to chose instead. This is fine, and makes the game "nicer" but I think this variant will increase the tension and satisfaction. Plus it adds some set-collection to the game. Perhaps the character cards could be double sided, and every time you get a card into your wardrobe that matches a part of your characters personal outfit then you can flip your character card and use your more powerful action? Or you can use your power one more time if making the cards double sided isn't possible at this late stage (they currently have some detail on the rule son the back). Anyway, back to the review. It is a very simple game to learn and teach. My family all really enjoyed it. I felt it last a few rounds too many, but again, that is easily fixed by removing a few random event cards from the start. I liked how the event deck is built in a way where it generally improves as the game goes on, but not in a linear way as the event cards do not simply progress in points as you play. You could go from a level two card worth eight points to a level three event worth five one from turn to the next. So, you don't always know if it is best to go for an event and potentially miss a more powerful card afterwards as your wardrobe is now empty. Or, to go for the event in front of you now as the next one may not be necessarily better. Some players may hold off the lower scoring events waiting for the highest scoring cards. Which can work as a strategy if you win lots of high scoring events. But you may find you can win more uncontested lower scoring cards, and win the game if lots of other players are holding off. So, with that said, it makes sense to have more events cards for this flow to happen. And perhaps the current number is the perfect amount to allow for this part of the game to have room to breathe. But it did feel three to four rounds too long to me. Seeing as each round was the same, there is no real variation round-to-round. And you build up your deck very quickly so you don't need that many rounds to build up your wardrobe before you can feel ready to compete for an event. The game did not necessarily do anything new with the deck-building mechanic. But it certainly brings a fresh look with the them to the board game world. And I applaud the designers of this game for clearly putting so much effort into working with people from within this community to make sure they are representing them in the right way. A positive way. And using the correct language. Something I have tried to do in my writing. If I have missed the mark here or anywhere else, please do correct me. Playing this game has being very helpful for me. It has given me a platform to discuss something new with my children. The game represents the drag community in such as positive and fun way. All of that seems to be more important to me that the core games mechanics. If you are interested in checking out the game or backing it, you can check the campaign here

Godtear WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2 You’ll like this if you like: Unmatched, Funkoverse, Warhammer Underworlds Direchism Published by: Steamforged Games Ltd. Designed by: David Carl, Alex Hall, Steve Margetson Rule Book Godtear is a tactical arena battle skirmish game that pits two players against each other in a game of hidden depths. As first glance, this will feel like a rush up to your opponent and smash-em type game. But on closer inspection of the cards and character powers, you will realise this is a highly strategic game that offers players the chance to build to some very exciting and rewarding turns. Godtear was first released in 2019. There are two starter sets, The Borderlands or the one I have, Eternal Glade. You can find more out about these here. Both sets come with two champion sets and all that is needed to play a game of Godtear 1v1. By that, I mean one person controlling one group of fighters against another with just one set too. This game is always a two-player only game, but can be played with one to four sets of fighters each. But you will quickly learn that one Champion versus one another champion only scratches the surface of this game. The full experience comes with a 3v3 match up, which requires additional Champions being acquired. They can be bought for around $30/£20 per set so with four extra of these acquired, plus the base game, this will a significant investment in the three figures. But is it worth it? Set-Up Place the board on the table. The boards are double sided but this is just aesthetics. So, pick which ever suits you. Then chose a scenario to fight in. There are six scenarios in the rule book. They bring four main variations for each one. First, where you can place your warbands at the start of the game. Second, the additional hexes you add to the board where the Champions can place their banners during the game. Third, the starting position for each player's Warband tokens. And finally, the variable set-up seen at the end of each phase. Once you have chosen your scenario, place the hexes used in this set-up onto the board and the round token beside the midline on the battle ladder, one space closer to the first player. Each player must then choose their warbands, either one, two, three, or even four depending on what game length and complication you want. Players will choose who is first player and then one by one, add their war bands onto the board on the chosen scenarios starting hexes. Each player will gather their three cards for each of their war bands. One that represents their Champion. One for their Followers. And one that shows their Champions unique one-off power and factions extra scoring opportunity. The board itself is gorgeous, but the art is deformational rather than causing any affects sadly. I suppose there is enough going on already! How To Play To start each player will work through the Plotting phase. This is done in order, warband by warband, player by player, taking two actions each time. There are a few basic actions such to advance (move) claim (place your banner down on a hex) and recruit (add an additional follower to the board if one had been knocked out). And then the skill actions unique to each champion and follower. For example, in a game where each player has two sets of champions and followers, the first player would activate all of their followers and both champions within their Warband, before the second player would do the same for all of theirs. In the plot phase, you cannot hurt another player, but you can move your troops into position, and add status tokens to add positive affects to your fighters and negative affects to your oppositions. In this phase, Champions adjacent to the objective hexes that scenario can place one of their banners onto the board. This will let them move the turn token for that round one step closer to their warband token, and if the banner is still there at the end of the clash phase, a further four spaces. As players activate each unit, they flip the card of the unit they just used to show it has been expended and ready for the next phase. The cards have two sides, one for the plot phase and one for the clash phase. The actions on each side are specific to each phase they are used in. Then all players move to the clash phase where you can now attack opposition followers and champions, remove opponents' banners, add or remove status tokens, and try to win the round. Each time you remove an opposition follower by adding damage tokens to it beyond its current health, you can move the round token one space closer to your warband token. Plus, an extra space if you are playing as one of the Maelstrom champion classes. And of course, the other player has one less follower to use against you if you timed the order of the attack correctly. Attacking your opponents followers before they have activated in clash phase is a key part of the game. Setting this up in the Plot phase is crucial to doing well in the game. The clash phase works in turn like the plot phase, but with one player activating one group of followers or one champion each turn rather than all of their warband. This continues until both players have activated all of their followers and champions. Players will score additional points for each remaining banner, and then the player who has the round token closer to their own warband token will take this, flip it and score the points on the reverse. In round one and five, the token is worth one point. Round two and four has a two-point value. In round three the token is worth three points. The game is won as soon as one player has won at least five points. So, a minimum of three rounds must be played but you could play up to five. Fighting The dice rolling in this game is a key part of the fun. But as with any use of a dice in this way, there is a fair bit of luck in this game. But you can try and mitigate your luck by making sound choices. When one player attacks another, you will roll dice equal to that characters specific power you chose. For example, the Fireball attack for Blackjaw as seen below uses five dice. You need to roll hits equal to or higher to your targets dodge score. As such, it would be risky to attack another player with this skill if their dodge was higher than four. You could waste your turn with a failed attack. Each dice face has either one hit, two hits, or zero hits. If you roll high enough, you can then roll for damage In the case of Blackjaw's Fireball, you will roll four dice against your targets armour. So, again, you need to plan ahead and look at your intended targets stats for both dodge and armour before you choose who to attack, and what to attack with. You can also affect your luck by targeting enemies with negative status tiles, or by using Champions or Followers of your own with positive boons. You can increase the number of dice you roll to attack or damage and reduce your enemy's dodge and armour value. Strategy The cards and powers for each character is so different. It takes a few minutes each game to familiarise yourself with your skills. Each class has a different power, this is another actor to consider when building your team. The Shapers get an extra step on the battlefield ladder when they place their banner. The Guardians get the extra step if their banner is still in play at the end of the clash phase. The Slayers get their extra step from knowing out opposition Champions. And as we mentioned above an extra space for knocking our followers for the Maelstrom class. When a champion is knocked out, they are not out of the game. Rather they are moved two hexes by the player that knocked them out, and they must then use a rally action on their next turn to remove all wounds from their player board to start again. Generally, they will then need to move back into position. So, essentially you just miss a turn wasting two actions getting back into the mix. As you can only win or lose a round, as in, you cannot win high, or lose badly; this is a game of strategy over the multiple rounds. There is no difference to losing a round by one point or six. If you are in a position of weakness one round, use it to manipulate your positions and positive boons to come back stronger in the following round. There is no point trying to get a few points to reduce your loss. As each round has a different points reward, you need to pick and choose when you will do this, and which rounds you will really go for. Loosing round one is irrelevant if you then win round two and three and win the game. But winning two rounds in a row is tough. Taking out a Champion generally takes a few rounds to achieve. They have higher health and can usually take a few blows before they are knocked out. Apart from Mournblade who has only one health, but in turn, only rewards the other player with one movement of the round tracker rather than the usual four. Mourneblade is also my favourite Champion to fight with. I like the ability to move your followers with your champion and visa-versa. Mourneblade has this power. It means you can drastically change the look of the battlefield in one plot phase. You have two actions each turn but cannot do the same action twice. If you want to move twice, you need to use a skill power as well as a basic power. Each character has a Ultimate skill that only the Champion can use, and then, only once per game. Mourneblade's ultimate skill allows it to pick up and move three of its followers to any hex three spaces from where it is currently located. The followers for Mourneblade, the Knightshade's, have a special power of their own which stops any enemy model from being able to move when using the advance action when they are adjacent to it. It's a powerful way to quickly change the dynamic and control the board by moving your Knightshades into multiple positions which stop your enemies from being to move as freely. Learning how each champion set works, and more importantly how each one integrates with each other is a fascinating and rewarding experience. The rules suggest you start with a 1v1 set-up which I agree with. It can be a lot to take in on game one if you try to master more than one champion and group of cards in your first game. But after a few plays, it will become natural to you. The game flows so quickly turn by turn. And you will find the real joy in this game comes from working out the best strategy for which group of fighters you have chosen. 3v3 is a great fun way to play. 4v4 is epic if you have the numbers, but 2v2 is my favourite. The game is quick, around 30 minutes one you become familiar with the cards, but still offers a lot of fun, strategic decisions. Some fighters can move faster and further than others. Some warriors are all about brute force and high yielding attacks. Others benefit more from tactical movement and strategic placement of their banners. Helena as a champion does not have a separate banner like the other champions, and instead carries her banner with her at all times. So, you must manipulate the board so that your champion ends each round on an objective hex, but of course your opponent will know this is your goal and try to thwart you. There are certain classes that work better with others, but it also depends on what style of game you enjoy and what strategy you want to deploy. It makes each game feel quite varied as you work your way through the different classes, but of course, this does add to the cost of the game. So, to go back to the question I posed at the start, is this any good? Well, yes. It's excellent. Playing Godtear is so much fun. But you do need multiple champion and follower sets for the full experience. It's up to you if you want to invest in this. So, it is good, but is it worth it? That really is the important question. But what I can say is that with eight sets in the house already, I am very keen to get more! I will collect them all as soon as I can, as I think this game will get to the table a lot. So, for me the answer is yes. Yes, this is very much worth it.

IKI WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Great Western Trail, Concordia, Le Havre. Published by: UTSUROI, Fractal Juegos, Geronimo Games, Giant Roc, Hachette Board Games UK, Lucky Duck Games, Reflexshop, Sorry We Are French Designed by: Koota Yamada Rule Book Edo Craftsman Story came out in 2014 and was a dice-driven points collecting game about merchants in Edo (Tokyo) doing business with local shopkeepers. It was based on paintings and research from that era and the art looks stunning. Check it out here. Designer Koota Yamada then released IKI in 2015 to critical acclaim, based on the original Edo game. Sadly, not that many people played or bought the game after a limited release and minimal marketing. But like all good origin stories, it came back! In 2021, IKI got a reprint with new art, new publishers and distribution, and won a whole heap of awards! Some are torn on if the new art is better, but the game remains largely the same. But with significantly improved components and rule book. The new version game is a real stunner to look at and plays brilliantly too. Let's set it up. ... Sorry, I was distracted by the box art for a second. Stunning isn't it! Anyway, see that person in the middle there? That's you. (Or at least I assume it is) You are about to walk around (following the direction of the arrows of course, you're not a heathen!) the conveniently circular streets of Edo. Stopping off at various shops and visiting different merchants, trying to collect the most IKI. IKI is a concept used in the Edo period meaning the ideal way of living a civic life. Being a good person you know. Something we could perhaps do with more of now! Imagine if the world was run by IKI and not money? Anyway, all of this is done using a classic Euro style game but with some serious and unexpected twists. Set-Up I won't go into the full rules and set up here as it may take a little too long, and would be rather dull to read, full rules are linked in the intro and here if you can't be bothered to scroll up. But as mentioned, the rule book really is excellent. So, you wont have any trouble getting this to the table if you buy this. But let's cover the basics to give you a flavour for the game. The first decision you need to make is which way to lay the board down on your table. And I don't just mean regarding the player count. (One side works for a very tight two-player experience, the other is for three or four players). I mean the orientation. Check it out above and look at the orientation of the art at the top and bottom of the board. Which way would you do it? (Cue everyone flipping their phone and getting annoyed at the auto orientation correct feature on modern phones). Once this debate is over, lay out all the cards, mon (money), rice, wood, and other components. Give each player a player board and items in their chosen player colour and you are ready to go. The board looks initially confusing but lets talk through it quickly. In this orientation, the top half shows the year that you will play in Edo. One space for each month and one final space for New Years day. You then have two shopping areas called Nagayas. Below that is the street that you will be walking around with two more Nagayas below it. You will notice in front of each of the four Nagayas there are symbols showing you what you can trade or buy when you stop there. Below this on the left is the fire track showing you each players current ability to fight fires. On the right is the track showing how many spaces each player can move that turn. Then finally at the bottom is the score. Hopefully this all makes sense now. Playing IKI On a players turn you will place your Ikizama meeple onto the track on the bottom right of the board which will determine on how many spaces your Oyakata meeple will move this turn. You can see this represented in the left hand side of your player board in space A. You can move one, two, three, or four spaces, and there is also a space that allows you to choose to keep you options open to move either one to four, but your phase B turn will be weaker. In phase B, players will either take four mon or hire a new character from the available cards that season. But if you chose the one to four spot, you can just take one mon. The recruited card will have an associated cost which must be paid. The card is then placed into one of the available merchant spaces in one of the four Nagayas and that player adds a Kobun meeple of their colour to this character card to show it is thiers. They will then move their Oyakata meeple based on the location of their Ikizama meeple from phase A, and trade with the shop or merchant that is in their final resting space. If you ever trade with another players character they will level up their experience. Each character has two to four spaces to level up which increases the benefit you get at the end of the season, until they eventually retire. We will come to that later. Trading can entail gaining sandals which allow you to increase your movement by one space per tile, rice which are needed to feed your active characters in employment each season, or a variety of other options based on which characters are in play. You can also build buildings, acquire points, buy wood or Koban (not Kobun, gets confusing doesn't it!) needed to build buildings, buy fish, pipes or tabaco, which work as a points multiplier through the four season. Or finally, increase your fire fighting skills. At the end of each month, any characters not yet hired will have their cost reduced by one. Also in a two player game, one of the unused cards will be added to the board as a neutral character that can be used one by either player. After each third month is over the season ends and all fish, tobacco, pipes and character cards not yet acquired will be removed and replaced with new ones for that season. Players then score points for their workers based on what level they are at before finally paying one rice for all workers still active. Any shortfall in rice and you must lose one character. So far, so euro. But wait, there is more! At the end of the fifth, eighth, and eleventh month a fire will start. There are four tokens representing each of the four Nagayas. One must be drawn at random, and then a fire will start there. The fires increase in strength as the years progress, and moves from one part of the Nagaya to the next, killing off each character or building card there. Unless the player that owns the card has a fighting ability higher than the fires current strength. The fire then moves on losing strength as it goes, until it reaches the final space in the Nagayas were it stops. This is a brutal and unexpected part of the game you need to either plan for, and build up your fighting powers, or just accept that its part of the game and leave your fate to chance. There is only a one in four chance it will affect you if you focus your characters to one Nagayas that is, maybe you will get lucky. In the first few games, I did not like the fire. I lost a lot of characters before I had the chance to retire them, or get my fighting levels up, and it was just irritating. I don't like luck in strategy games. But as I played more, I realised you really could plan for the fire. I like to play it this way rather than leave it to chance. Some characters when you recruit them increase your fire fighting abilities. Some pipes when you buy them do the same. After a while you see these little fire fighting symbols everywhere and you want them! They don't help with short term points, but they certainly do give you long term gain, especially when it comes to increasing your chances of retiring characters. When a character receives enough experience it retires. Experience comes when players use your merchant as discussed, but also when your Oyakata pawn completes one lap of the shopping area. When you receive the final experience point needed to retire you can move that card from the board onto your own player board. They will still earn you a bonus at the end of each season, now higher. And also wont need feeding anymore. You can no longer trade with them of course, they are enjoying retirement. But you will also score points for them at the end of the game based on how many different colours of cards you manage to retire. There are five colours in total and the points grow exponentially the more you get. After the final month, players will then take their Oyakata pawn off the board and can then place it back onto any space for one final turn. It's new years day and it's a free move for all players. Often in games you are left wanting just one more go, but even if you had it, you could not quite make it to the space you need. IKI acknowledges this and gives you just what you want. Its a very satisfying way to end the game. Players then tot up their points from all their in-game points, characters retired, fish, tobacco, and pipes bought, and any buildings they may have built. You will also score for your left over resources and money. The buildings will earn you big points, but they are hard to build. I have not built more than two in any one game yet, and that was tough. There are only thirteen turns in any game remember, and to construct a building you first need to acquire the parts to do this, which can take two to three turns, and then land on the right space on the board to make the building itself. There are so many turns to do this in, and once every three months, you will want to at least get the fish as they are unique to each passing season, whilst of course not neglecting all the other ways to score. You cannot ever do it all. So, you must prioritise the way you wish to play that game. And this right here is why I love IKI. I love scarcity in games. When there is an abundance of options but only so much time or so many turns. It makes me happy to make tricky decisions like this. But this sort of game isn't for everyone. Check out what Sam, aka Miss Frenchtoast had to say about IKI. I was drawn in my the theme and art of IKI, but I didn’t find playing the game to be very exciting. There are some puzzle aspects that I really enjoyed, such as figuring out how many spaces to go and where to place your workers, but the turns felt chunky and didn’t flow well. Although I was excited about the theme and I enjoyed the tightness, I found it almost too difficult to balance feeding workers, fighting the fire, buying fish or pipes, and building. While that tightness is a positive in my book, I never felt like I had a clear direction. Perhaps this would be remedied with more plays. Overall, it was a fine game. The cards and board are beautiful, it has that challenging feeling of not quite being able to do it all, it’s just missing flow and excitement for me. So, if you like games like Le Havre where there is this tight balance between what you can do and what you want to do, then IKI could be for. If you don't, then you may be left frustrated such as Sam was above. For me though, I think it's fantastic, but needs a few plays as Sam says, to get your head round all the different ways to score, and give you a chance to understand how to prioritise what you want to focus on. It wasn't until game three that I started scoring well in this game. Normally, I couldn't care less about my score. But in IKI, you do want to do well. It's frustrating when you don't achieve your goals of the forth fish, or the final piece of wood for the high scoring building. It's not a game I need to win at, but it is a a game I want to score well at compared to my previous scores. So, I can see why some may not enjoy the first few games as you learn the strategy. When you play IKI, you do need to give if some considered attention. You cannot just rush it. But despite this, it is very quick. In a two, I have completed this game in under 40 minutes, and that was with my nine year old as my partner. It's only 13 turns each after all. And each turn is very quick, you can only ever do one thing. In a two, this game is a 9/10. In a three or four, it's still great, an 8 I would say, but I perhaps like the speed of the two player game more. You can see above the four player board is pretty much the same as the two player at the top of this page, just with an extra space in each Nagaya. In the two player game, the only major difference is you block off one of the five movement options used in phase A to keep that decision tight. This is changed each season. There is pretty much only one thing I don't like about this game, and that is the lack of insert. Why do some games do that? Cost I assume? But for a quality game like IKI, with a high end reprint like this, why not charge £5 more and give a nice insert to avoid this mess? I Know price points are important, but I cannot image many people are buying IKI that are not at least a semi-serious gamer, and £5 more with the knowledge there is a nice ordered insert would I expect not put that many people off. Maybe I am wrong, I suppose I could always just buy one myself! Although it is considerably more than £5! Check it out. Anyway, that is being picky. IKI is a fantastic game and comes highly recommended from WBG. I have played IKI many times now and have left it set up for more games this weekend! It is incredibly addictive in terms of wanting to beat your previous score, and master the intricacies of the various scoring options. I think it would suit many types of gamers, but obviously not those who find balancing the tightness frustrating as Sam quite rightly mentions. But anyone who does like this who is looking for a medium weight, quick to play euro with various ways to score, with a Japanese theme, this really may become one of your favourite games very quickly.

Funkoverse Strategy Game Review WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Unmatched, Heroclix, Disney Sorcerers Arena Published by: Funko Games Designed by: Prospero Hall I love Jurassic Park, especially that bit when the raptor goes to attack Alan Grant but then one of the golden girls clocks it with her hand bag. Then when Voldemort goes to fire a spell at her Marty McFly swoops in and saves her on his hoverboard only for Batman to knock out Bellatrix and escort her to Arkham. They don’t make them like that anymore! Funkorules. Set up depends on what set/s you have but in general pick a board that you’ll be using, pick a scenario and then the really fun bit, pick your characters! Then take all the special items, shuffle them up and deal out any number to the players and let them keep one for each character. Then take the physical components and give them to the characters. I’ll talk more about mixing the sets later on and just talk through the rules as if you're using a single set. On your turn pick one of your characters and perform up to two actions. You can move up to two squares, assist an adjacent knocked down ally by standing them up, interact with tokens on the board or perform a basic challenge to an opponent's character. When you challenge you roll two dice or more depending on if you're doing a basic challenge or using an ability. The defender rolls as many dice as their defence value and then you compare hits and blocks. If the challenger wins then the opponent is knocked down and the only action they can do on their next turn is stand up. If they’re already knocked down when they fail to defend a challenge then they are knocked out and the character is placed on the first space of the cool-down track. If none of these actions appeal to you then you can do a special action and perform an ability on your character's card or use an item. Each special ability has a type associated with it and when you use it you place a token of that type on the cool-down track in the indicated space. These tokens will move down a space on the track at the end of each round. This means that you need to use your abilities carefully because you may not have access to them for a few rounds. If you don’t have a token of that type then you can’t use the ability. Funkoverse, tis’ a silly game. If there’s one thing you need to know about Funkoverse it’s this. It is ridiculous! You are able to team up Jaws, who is equipped with a purse and a raptor who has a cheesecake and have them fight one of the golden girls holding a Batarang and the Kool aid man riding a hoverboard. Now if that sentence doesn’t bring a smile to your face, or you think it’s too silly then there’s a good chance that this game isn’t for you. That being said, read on because you never know. On the surface Funkoverse may seem like a gimmick, a way to sell more Funko pops and, maybe there is a little bit of that there, but underneath all the crazy combos and the highly recognisable characters is a solid, fun game with plenty of replayability. At its core Funkoverse is a light, simple skirmish game. They’ve taken a lot of elements from small skirmish games and boiled them down into their fairly simple base mechanics. Even the line of sight rules are easy to follow. If you’ve ever played any kind of combat game then you know how groan- inducing the words “line of sight” can be. In fact you can have this taught easily in about five minutes and be done within an hour give or take depending on the scenario you’ve chosen. If you want to see how simple this game is then try making up a team of just the basic characters you get in the sets that only have the basic rules! On second thoughts, don’t do that, it’d probably be rubbish. This only goes to prove how much fun those player powers and special abilities are though. Each one works thematically for the characters and because of that adds another layer, not only to the strategy, but to your character choices. There’s a ton of fun to be had by loudly announcing Expelliarmus! and, if successful, disarming an opponent and putting one of their items on their cool-down track, or shouting Great Scott and prematurely shifting items down your cool-down track All the abilities here have been thought about and not just slapped on just because they’ve managed to get hold of a particular IP. Marty has a “nobody calls me chicken ability”, Doc Brown has his 88mph move which lets him move four spaces in a straight line and the Raptor has a “Clever girl” ability that lets her ambush someone. It’s all been done with knowledge and passion for the characters they add to the game and gives every game some instant recognisability and in some cases a bit of nostalgia. Slam dunk the funk Now let’s talk about that cool down track. This takes the game and elevates it by giving it another level of strategy that doesn’t over complicate the game and still keeps it accessible for everyone. Without it this game would be one of those “let me just take the most powerful character and spam their best ability till I win” games, which would have been the table top equivalent of button mashing and we all know how annoying those people were to play Street Fighter against……..Marcus. Sorry, don’t know where that came from. Whenever you use an ability it goes on an indicated space on the cool-down track and generally the more powerful the weapon, the higher it goes on the track. Each round, anything on the cool-down track slides down one space. So the more powerful the ability, the longer it takes to get it back. Knowing when and how to effectively use those abilities for maximum effect is crucial. You may look as Voldermorts fiendfyre ability and think that range 2 and 6 attack is pretty darn powerful, and it is unless your luck with the dice is as shocking as mine, but that ability is not coming back you for four rounds! However, there are ways to manage that track and expedite your tokens journey or, even give you multiple of the same tokens to be able to use those abilities a bit more often and that's where your team building comes into play. All the power in the ‘verse Each character has their own role to play in a team, some are more of a powerhouse when it comes to attacking, some are support characters and some will help you shift your tokens down the cool down track or stand up fallen allies. I love the multiple ways you can choose to build your team and how it caters for different styles of gamers. If you want to pour over the characters, analysing what they each bring and put together a strong team based on whose abilities synchronise well together you can. On the other hand if you want to just throw together a team of your favourite characters or just a team based on how silly it is, then it’s just as satisfying and, arguably more fun. It’s a system that will satisfy those slightly more serious players or anyone who just wants to have Jaws fighting Hagrid for the giggles, I’m definitely more of the latter. There's a ton of Funky to go round. Something I love about these sets is that all the boxes (barring the single character sets) come with all the components that you need to play. So if you want to just buy a two character set to dip your toes in then you can absolutely do that. This is such a great idea as it makes the game that much easier to find your jumping on point. So many of these games require you to buy a base set which you may or may not be as interested in just to get the essentials. Here though you can find a set you like and go for that. As your collection grows you're going to have lots of different boards to play on and multiple different scenarios to use. It seems that the more sets they release the more inventive they’re getting with the scenarios. The Space Jam set has a basketball one and the Thanos single pack has an all against one infinity saga scenario. Whilst I wouldn’t change this system it does pose a bit of an issue as you get more sets. Asides from getting a load of fun coloured crystals (like having more eggs from wingspan) you are going to have a LOAD of all of the other tokens, like objective point markers and exhaust tokens that you will not use and have to find a new home for. Whilst we’re on the subject, storage is going to be a puzzle you’ll have to contend with the more sets you get….unless you plan on keeping all the sets in their relevant boxes that is. These are smaller than the usual Funko pops but I can see them needing some creative solutions for storage as your collection grows. Now I’m not saying that to put you off buying a load of stuff, far from it. I just want you to fully know the rabbit hole you’re probably going to end up down if you enjoy this game. One last thing whilst we’re on the negatives and it’s not necessarily a negative. You can get any set and have a great time with this game, but a lot of the fun of Funkoverse comes from mixing and matching. So unless you’re tied to just one IP, you're probably going to want to get at least another set to really see the games full potential. This is mostly because each team will comprise three characters and, with only one set your team will need either one or two of the basic character tokens and they are just that, basic, so you will really want another set to really flesh out your team. That's not something you need to do immediately of course and if you're having enough fun with just one set then great! Now if I was reviewing this game when it first came out then that may have been more of a negative, it may even have been cause to drop the score since the sets were so expensive. These days however you can find a lot more of the sets for cheaper and sometimes these can be around the same price as getting a new card pack for something like Marvel Champions. We’ve managed to get hold of three sets (two four packs and a two pack) and paid just over what a four pack originally cost. That’s not to say that’s going to be the case everywhere but it’s worth shopping around. If you’ve ever had the urge to take your Funko pops off the shelf or worse, out of the box!! and play with them then Funkoverse does a fantastic job on making that dream a reality. Sure it doesn’t yet have the extensive range of characters and IPs as their bigger counterparts but there’s still fun range out there. There’s nothing like stomping round the board with your favourite characters pulling off fun moves and uttering sentences like “Jaws is now going to hit you with Harley Quinns hammer” Funkoverse is great, silly light fun but you may want to watch out for that rabbit hole, it’s easy to fall down…..but it might just be worth it.

Downforce WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Rallyman GT, Flamme Rouge,Formula D Published by: Iello, Coiledspring games Designed by: Wolfgang Kramer,Justin D. Jacobson, Rob Daviau This is your car, your pride and joy. You will do anything for this car and nothing and I mean nothing will stop you being a dedicated owner who will stop at nothing to get this car across the finish line first. Well that is until you see the red car storming into the lead and you decide to bet your life savings on that instead. Let’s auction off some rules. To set up, choose one side of the double sided board, place all six cars behind the finish line in a random order and give each player a scoresheet. Deal out the speed cards evenly to each player then place the car specific speed 8 cards and the power cards in separate face down decks next to each other. At the start of the game there’s going to be an auction phase. Reveal the top speed card and power. Players then need to bid to own this car and power combination. You bid by using the speed cards in your hand. Each card has any number of colours on it with a number in that colour. To bid on that colour car simply play a card with that colour on it. The player who has the highest number of that colour will win. The number they bid will be the amount they pay for that car which they will write on their score sheet. The auction will continue until all the cars have gone. There’s no real limit to how many cars you can have but every player must have at least one car. Once this phase is over any player that has multiple powers has to choose one to keep and discard the rest. Then start your engines as the race is about to begin. Shifting gears. On a players turn they have to play one of their speed cards. When played they have to move all the cars on the card the number of spaces indicated and in the order they’re listed. Cars can only move forward onto spaces that finish in front of the one they’re leaving but they can’t move through other cars. At some point cars will reach one of the three yellow betting lines on the track. Once the first of the cars cross one of them players must then bet on who they think will win the race by marking the car colour on their sheet. This will happen everytime a betting line is first crossed. As cars finish the race they are placed on the podium based on their position. Once either all the cars have finished or all cards have been played from players who are still on the track the race ends. Players will then score money based on correctly betting on the winning car and when you made that prediction The more times you get the right prediction, the more money you get. You’ll also receive money from the final position of your car(s). Then takeaway what you spent at the beginning auction to get your final score. I enjoy a good racing game and, sometimes even the bad ones. There’s a couple of issues I’ve had with the ones that I’ve played though. First is the amount of luck in them, regardless of how much they’ve tried to mitigate it and the runaway leader problem. Now I’m not saying that Downforce alleviates that altogether, but it does a darn good job of getting them either down to a minimum (luck) or making you use it to your advantage (runaway leader) First the luck factor. The only real luck in a 3-6 player game is the cards that you're dealt at the start of the game but you quickly start to decipher how you can best use these cards to your advantage. Do you have a lot of green movement in your hand? Then maybe the green car is the best to try and bid on, or you could try buying another car with a better power for cheap and then betting heavily on green. Just in case that sounds like a simple enough decision, let me introduce you to the power cards. These come out with each speed card and could well change what is a sure fire car choice and make things that little bit tougher. The other thing it may change is how many cars you try and get your hands on. Since at the end of the auction phase you get to pick one of the powers you have in your hand, it may be worth getting hold of a car just because the power card will work well for you. It’s such a quick and simple auction mechanic but it adds so much to how your game is going to play out. It’s a weird comparison but it really reminds me of the drafting mechanic in Blood Rage and how important that is to your game. If there’s one bet I’ll make in this review it’s that I’ll bet you never expected me to compare Downforce to Blood Rage did you? The other big decision you need to make is how many cars you try and get. More cars are great for choices of powers and chances to get a good finishing position, but how much you pay for those cars could well be your downfall. The two player game does suffer a bit more when it comes to the luck factor though. It’s still a fun game but in this version you split the deck and then draw seven cards to your hand then draw another at the end of your turn. So making any kind of solid plan at this player count is potentially pointless. Please gamble responsibly. So the other issue that can crop up with a lot of racing games is the runaway leader. Let’s face it there’s no fun watching other players get lucky and race ahead of you knowing that, aside from an act of the cardboards gods, you’re not going to be catching up anytime soon. As much as I don’t mind losing games it’s far better to lose when you’ve had a good crack at winning, rather than have it out of your hands entirely. Again downforce manages to shift gears and dodges around this beautifully. Yes, technically you can get runaway leaders but this is where the betting comes in and elevates this game from just another racer that only certain people might enjoy, into something for everyone. The betting means that, even though your cars may be stuck in a less than advantageous position, you can still use your opponents to your advantage. You can easily just bet on those seemingly obvious front runners and then use your cards to make sure they get over the line in a position that benefits you. Sure you’ll be giving that player a bit of a boost but as long as you can bet on them early enough and still get your cars over the line in a good position you still have a decent chance of winning. Mechanically this game is great, it’s a really clever design but it’s not complicated with it. Where Downforce shines though is in its interactivity. It’s not just about navigating the track and how you can get in front of the race, it’s how you can do all that AND screw up you friends or force them into putting you into a good position. Downforce isn't a take that game, yet, there is something soooo satisfying about moving opponents cars into single lanes behind other cars that you know they can’t easily get out of or, and I’m not saying I’ve ever done this, (ahem) playing a huge movement card and only being able to move them one space….and then making the screeching brakes sound. It’s a ton of fun and whilst it may trigger alarm bells in those that don’t like that kind of potential meanness in games, I think that the mechanics swoop in to save it. Also, as devastating as those moves may sound, I’ve seen cars in dead last weave around the track and end up in the top three. This leads me nicely onto the other reason why I love this game. It gives you so many great moments and tension throughout the game. You may have stormed into the lead on your last turn but now you have to anxiously wait and hope that you're still in a good enough position by the time your next turn drives around to play the card you want. Downforce is a game in which the race could go from a forgone conclusion on one turn and could have completely turned by the time your next one comes around. That kind of wild unpredictability may not be for some people but for me it’s something that’s tense, exciting and keeps things on a knife edge. I can’t tell you how many times there have been almost neck and neck tussles to the finish line. Honestly if I had nails I would’ve almost certainly bitten them off in some games. As of quite recently my highest rated racing game (by a long way) was Flamme Rouge at number eight and Downforce has just unceremoniously taken its spot. It’s quick, clever fun that has a much wider appeal as far as racing games go and yes, you will be making vroom vroom noises as you move your cars round the track!

Trek 12: Himalaya WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-50 You’ll like this if you like: Welcome To, Ganz Schon Clever, Cartographers. Published by: Lumberjacks Studio, Blackrock Games, Geronimo Games, Hachette Board Games UK Designed by: Bruno Cathala, Corentin Lebrat Rule Book Roll & Writes became all the rage a few years back, and now it seems we have a new game using this mechanic being launched every week. So, how do you wade your way through the bad ones, and find the good ones? Play them all of course! Don't have the time? Well, never fear, I play loads of new games every week and I can safely say that the 2020 release of Trek 12 stands out and should be worthy of your consideration if you are looking for a new game in this genre. Why? Well, read on, but give me a sec as a new roll-and-write just dropped through the letter box... There sure are a lot of games that use the blank and write mechanic. A term coined to described games that either use cards (flip-and-write) or dice (roll-and-write) to add some random factor into a paper and pencil based game. We also now have flick and writes and I'm sure a few more! But there are not many with a campaign mode; or one of my favourite things in board games, extra stuff to unlock and open as you progress through the game. You see this in legacy games like Pandemic Legacy or Zombie Kidz/Teenz but it hasn't become something that you see that often. I'm unsure why, as it is an awesome way to introduce new rules slowly into a more complex game, and brings real drama and excitement when you finally get to open a new envelope. In Trek 12 they are used to add more replayability and motivate you to keep playing the game over and over. And it works so well! But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's first talk about how this game plays. How to Play Trek 12 is built using the classic mechanics of a roll-and-write. One player will roll two dice, and then all players will use those dice somehow on their own personal player sheet. As such, this game scales to as many players as you like. It's marketed as 1-50 but as long as you have enough sheets, you could play with as many friends as you can gather. This will not affect the game at all including how long it takes to play, other than the post game chat and banter of course! Players must use the dice in one of five ways. At the top of the sheet you will see a grid with five rows showing five different symbols. The top one must be marked off if you use the lowest of the two numbers rolled on the two dice. The second one is if you use the highest of the two numbers. The third one is for when you use the difference between the two dice. You cannot go into negative numbers so you must subtract the lowest number from the highest. Then you have the combined value of both dice, and finally one dice multiplied by the other. You cannot go over 12 but this is one way along with the addition row where you get get numbers higher than 6. You cannot use each method more than four times. Once you have your number, you must then mark that into one of the circles on the mountain. You can draw the first one anywhere you like, but all subsequent numbers need to be adjacent to one other number you have already marked. You are looking to score from two main ways. Groups of sets of the same number and groups of runs of numbers running one up or one down from each other. Sets are called zones, a mapped zone you have plotted out for your climb. Runs are called fixed lines, a line you are climbing up to the top of the mountain. As such, once you place a number onto the sheet, the next number needs to the the same or one different in order to place it. If you ever cannot place a number you place mark a sad face onto a circle instead. These lose you three points at the end of the game. You will then score your groups by taking the number used in the group, for example a six, and then one additional point for every additional circle used in this group. So my two sixes above in the bottom left of the map score me seven points. The runs score the same, except you take the highest number then add one for all additional circles used. You will then score a bonus from your largest run and group, and subtract three points for any number you were unable to place. Campaign Mode The game comes with a simple Trek manual to teach you the basic game. You will be up and running within in a few minutes, playing one of the three starting mountains. There is also a brilliant solo mode using the Soloist Trek manual, which adds one small addition, Max, your competitor in solo mode; in an otherwise very simple but fun solitaire game. And finally, there is the meat of the game. The Alpinist Manuel, which introduces the campaign mode, and the way to unlock those juicy envelopes. The main difference with the Alpinist campaign mode is you are working your way through three different mountains in one game. In the box, you start with Dunai, Kagkot, and Dhaulagiri peaks. You will score each climb the same way, but your scores are not tallied. Instead for each route, the person with the highest score gets one star. There will also be a star for all players that achieve the minimum target score for that mountain, and a final star for anyone who beats your groups top score for that mountain. Whenever a new top score is achieved, that must be recorded in the hall of fame included on the back of the rule book, so you know what you are looking to beat in any future game using the same mountain. The player with the most stars after the three ascents wins. There are also Assist cards used in this mode. Whenever you create a new zone with zeros, ones, or two's, you can pick an assist card from the cards revealed at the start of each climb. These help you as you make your way up the next few mountains. The Compass allows you to write a result of a dice face in a non-adjacent circle. The Rope gives you the chance to create a fixed line between two non-adjacent circles. Using the Schnapps gives players the opportunity to re-roll the dice after other players have used them. And finally, the Tent lets you use either one of the five metrics for choosing your dice for a fifth time, when usually they are limited to four. If you achieve one of the six set targets you can open one of the envelopes. The targets are to create a zone of exactly five or seven spaces, a zone of three seven's or two eleven's, and a fixed line that is nine or thirteen circles long. Once any player has achieved either of these after any ascent you can open one envelope. I don't want to spoil the surprise as to what's inside these envelopes, so I will not show any pictures here. But suffice to say that there is a lot more "game" to be had in Trek 12 than first meets the eye. There is pretty much more of everything and then some! And just when you think that's all Trek 12 can offer, there is now a new Amazon version Trek 12: Amazonia (which I have not played yet) and Trek 12.1: A Travel Diary Through The Himalaya's which brings even more climbing fun to the table. Again, I don't want to spoil what is inside this box as most of it is locked away safely inside secret envelopes. But right out the box you will have access to Jampa, a new map, which introduces a new rule - New Circles. Circles that are already linked on the map and must be filled with numbers that create a fixed line between them. Once you create seven successful New Circles you can open the first envelope and see the wonders inside! The second and third envelope has some real treats in store for you too, and it doesn't end there. Virtually the story will continue. It's a wonderful expansion and one I would highly recommend getting with the base game. There is so much game in these two little boxes. You may well need more sheets soon or consider laminating some like I did. I burned my way through the maps so quickly! The game is incredibly addictive. Each game only takes between 5-10 minutes, depending on your familiarity with the rules. And you will want to beat your last score, or try to get the top score to get onto the Hall of Fame leader board. But the game isn't just addictive, it's also very fun. I get a lot of satisfaction from scoring well in this game, but also love the theme, and how playing Trek 12 transports me not to the mountains (sadly) but to a calmer, more meditative state. I love losing myself in the player sheet, working my way towards to the best result. There is something so grounding about rolling a nice wooden dice, and writing with a pencil on a piece of paper. This, I think, is one of the reason roll-and-writes as a mechanic is so popular. The reason Trek 12 deserves it's place amongst the elite is that it brings with it a simple brilliance in the way the game is played and scored, a real sense of adventure with the theme and envelopes, and an overall brilliant game experience from the ever evolving components and additional rules.