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Happy City WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2-5 Players You’ll like this if you like: Quadropolis, Villagers, Sushi Go! Published by: Cocktail Games Designed by: Toshiki Sato, Airu Sato Sometimes, you play a game, and instantly fall in love! That is what happened for me and my family with Happy City! It looks so cute. You can learn and teach it in under a minute, and that’s with a break for tea. And the games last around five minutes for a two-player, with scoring being a thing of pure simplicity! If you are looking for a quick, light, fun filler game, this may be my number one recommendation right now. Based on the Japanese release from 2018 Happiest Town, this is a simple translation into the English language, and the core game stays the same. I can imagine there are publishers and distributors out there all the time, looking for great games in Japan and other non-English speaking counties. And when they stumble upon a gem like this, their eyes must light up! It is such a simple concept, but it is incredibly satisfying and fun to play. It’s the perfect combination for a light card game, and one I can highly recommend. Set-up is simple. Lay out the three different ‘Dwelling’ cards on the top row, removing one of each for any player count under five, so one remains in a two player. Then sperate the other building cards into their three types, clearly marked on the back into three separate face-down rows below. Give each player a Happy Market card, two coins and the starting card to one player. You will then gather the special buildings, always two more of them than there are players, lay them out and the game can start. All players will then gather income for all buildings showing a coin symbol on the bottom left of their card, and then in turn, each player will lay out three cards into the display area. Flipping cards from either of the three face-down rows. They can then choose to buy one of these three available cards from the cost shown on the top left of the card. Buy nothing and simply claim one more coin or acquire any ‘Dwelling’ card that had not yet been acquired from the top row. You can also take one of the special buildings as an extra action if they have fulfilled the necessary criteria. On subsequent players turns, if the player before chose to buy, there will be two available cards face up for purchase. This means players can flip only one extra card. There can only ever be three face-up in this area, but never any less either. Players may choose to discard one card from this row before they flip, meaning they can then flip over two cards to increase their buying choice. The three rows of available cards are marked on the back with the potential cost when flipped. The top row has cards with a value of one to three coins. The middle row is worth either four or five. And the bottom row is worth from six to nine coins. Players can then flip cards to the potential value of their current balance, knowing they will have a chance to buy them. Players will continue taking turns of taking income and buying buildings until someone claims their tenth building, all players will ensure they have had the same number of turns, and then the game ends. Scoring is a simple act of multiplying all hearts shown on the bottom right of your building cards with the green people symbol shown in the same place. Highest score wins. There is a minor variant in the box where you can flip over your starting Happy Market card to show a colour and symbol. You can also use the advanced special buildings which have more complex requirements for their acquisition. These cards can be added into your tableau at any point, not taking up your turn, if you have cards in your array that match the symbols on the card you are taking. Your Happy Market when flipped, will have one of these symbols on itself, and they are all different. This increases the chances that players will aim for different special cards at the start of the game, making it less of a race for certain cards. I have played this game multiple times in the short time I have had it. It has become a minor obsession for me. I cannot stop thinking about the game and want to play whenever I have five-minutes spare. It is just so quick and simple to play. But offers a fun and engaging experience. I enjoy how your town comes together and the cards work. The Haunted house offers extra revenue but reduces your population by one. Maybe they got scared off? I hope its nothing else too sinister?! The Factory will also increase your income but reduces your hearts as the population don’t enjoy the pollution that comes from it. Or perhaps the new roundabout created for the increased traffic. That would bug me. The previous crossroads was fine. Everything just makes sense. All the card art has been thoughtfully done and looks so cute! There is no other word for it, other than perhaps ‘Kawaii’, which is the Japanese word and art style for cute cartoon art. The Shoe shop is one giant pink shoe shaped building. The Museum has a tiny Dinosaur skeleton outside the main entrance. The luxury apartments has a roof top pool. There is so much unnecessary detail that just adds to the fun and overall theme of the game. There are a few ways to try and win. Perhaps you want to accumulate income as quickly as possible to start buying the more valuable buildings. You may miss an early chance to buy and take a coin instead to try and get a more valuable building that also gets you income on a later turn. This will increase your income collection potential for the rest of the game. You will now have a harder worker engine within your city, which will exponentially grow faster than someone who chose cheaper early buildings that don’t generate income. However, that other players may be just trying to end the game as quickly as possible. Buying the cheapest buildings available to keep the game progressing. Remember, getting your tenth building ends the game that round. So, any players who have missed buying and took money instead could be a building or two behind by the end of the game. However, I have found it is possible to win the game with less buildings if your population and happiness is higher, which is of course highly possible when you have bought better buildings. But if you get it wrong and loose a game of Happy City, fret not. Simply re-set and start again. You will be back playing within a minute and the next game will most likely be over within another five! The game is so fast and fun. Your turns are so quick and enjoyable. But the fun to be had from this group of cards is massive. This is one of my favourite filler games I have played in a long while. I expect it will be played after dinner most nights in my household and will come with me to every game night for the foreseeable. It plays in a nice tight space so could work in restaurants and pubs when waiting for food, but the cards are quite light so probably not great outside with any wind! Happy City is sticking firmly in my collection and I think will become a firm family favourite for many years to come.

OK, before we start the review, lets explain the origins of this game as it can be a little confusing! Back in 2014, Bézier Games released Castles of Mad King Ludwig. In this game, players took turns to be the master builder, setting the prices for the rooms available, selling said rooms to the other players and then choosing from the remaining options. Then in 2015 Stonemaier Games made Between Two Cities. A tile drafting game for 1-7 players where you build two Cities at a time, one with the player either side of you in a grid. Then in 2018, Stonemaier and Bézier came together to make a mash-up of the two games, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, where players needed to make a Castle with either player beside them, taking ideas, themes, and mechanics from both games. This new version played 2-7, but is at its best three and up. I always sensed this bugged Jamey Stegmaier, who likes all his games to work at solo too. So, in 2021, the first expansion for the game was released which expands the game to a 1-8 experience, with a revised two player option. Secrets & Soirees. In this review we first look at the base game, then the expansion new cards and rules, then the new two player variants, and finally the solo option. Between Two Castle of Mad King Ludwig The base game is an absolute delight for tile-laying fans. Building your two castles, working with your two neighbours, you will be delighted with the number of tiles on option, and the variety within them. It will take multiple games before you see all the tiles. I am certain some will still delight and surprise you well into your later games. The game works very much like Between Two Cities. Starting with nine randomly drawn tiles, you will pick two tiles. One for the Castle you are building to your right, and the other for the one you are building to your left. Both of your neighbours will be doing the same, and you can work with both players to make these decisions. As your castles expand and develop, you will work in new ways of scoring, and expand upon existing scoring options. You may lay a tile that scores for each surrounding Utility room, and then later place a Utility room next to it, which also scores for all connected Sleeping quarters. The Sleeping quarters themselves score four points if you build one room of each type, otherwise they score just one point. So, getting a few of these in a well-equipped castle can be fruitful. Each time you place the third type of any room, you immediately score a bonus action. This can be the opportunity to place an extra room tile, a bonus tile such as the Fountain, Tower or Grand Foyer, which all score their own bonus points. Or the chance to take a bonus scoring card or Royal Attendant. All of which give you yet more opportunities for end game scoring. All in, this is a point salad of a game with 13 different ways to score at the end of the game. The provided score pad is both well designed and much needed! The only complaint here that some have said that the end game scoring can take as long as the game itself. Each game of Between Two Castles is very quick. You play just two rounds, with eight tiles from nine used each round. Everything can be over in 10-20 minutes for experienced players, especially in lower player counts. But then the scoring can take just as long again! Personally, I savour this part of the game. Watching the scores build up for each room type, player by player is exciting to watch. You could all score simultaneously, which would make it a lot quicker. But I find watching each player tally their respective points, room by room, highly entertaining! It is also impressive to see how some players have found clever combinations from certain scoring rooms. Before I move onto the new expansion content, it’s essential to mention the fantastic Game Trayz inserts that come with both the base game and new expansion. They serve as a fantastic way to sort and store the game, as well as assist and speed up set-up and take down. This is the industry standard all should aspire too! They look great and are highly functional. Shhh! It’s a Secret! Ok, lets talk about the new stuff! In the new expansion you are provided with two new room types. One of the new rooms types are Secret rooms. These are clearly identifiable from their cyan colour and arrow in the scoring area. These exciting new rooms mirror the room next to it in the direction of the arrow. They copy the room type, scoring opportunity and wall hanging. Clever players will be able to use these to score big points. For example, here you can see how three secret rooms around a Garden tile that scored six points from building six separate Activity rooms, created a huge combo effect for a total of 24 points. That’s quite a lot in this game! So much room for activities! The second new room type is Activity rooms. These varied new rooms score you four points, simply if they are surrounded orthogonally. But they all will score just one point if they are adjacent to a specific room, marked on each activity room. The rooms themselves are great to look at, with the new Boxing and Train room my personal favourites. Time for Two? In the base game, there is a two-player variant where each player plays as usual with their human partner, and then a third false player is created for each player to play with on the other side. This is done at random, with two tiles chosen by the player to the left of “Ludwig” the name for the “bot” player. That player will choose one for the castle they are making with Ludwig, and one for the castle the other player is making with Ludwig. In the second round, the player to Ludwigs right will make the selections. In this scenario it is entirely possible for Ludwig to score the highest, and both human players to lose. This creates a strange scenario that is ultimately dissatisfying. A better Two? In the new two-player variant, each player simply makes their own castle. Choosing from their nine tiles as usual, one for them to place and one for their neighbour. At the end of the game, you simply score your own castle. This is a marked improvement on the two-player version and is entirely possible without the expansion. It is just a small rule tweak and very simple to learn and play. That said, the experience for me is always better with at least three players. And best for me in a six. A busy loud table, with multiple discussions, arguments, and debates! It is the human interaction that makes this game special. Deciding as a pair what to build, where to build and how to develop your castle is a joyous thing. The puzzle of the solo experience of the two-player is a lot of fun, but it is half the game for me. Although, still very good. Solo Adventures Included in the expansion are rules for two different solo variants. Again, these can be played with the base game alone or with the expansion tiles. The first solo variant sees you play with two automated bot players in a three-way simulation. The second one sees you building just one castle and playing against a single bot opponent. Both offer a fun, and quite unique puzzle experience that is both entertaining and challenging, but like the two-player variants, takes away the debate and discourse that makes this good game, great. Explaining the solo variants can be much better done by reading the excellent rule book here. So, all I will say is this. For anyone who has played any other Stonemaier Automa game, you will be well aware of the slick and well-oiled way this company makes solo variants and explains them. It works very well and feels well executed. Simply put, if you want to play this game solo, you now can, and there are two very different ways to do it. A Mad King is a Happy King! Overall, this is a brilliant expansion. For the improved two-player rules alone, I love it! But the solo variants are also very good, although not my cup of tea. The two new tile types add a lot of new fun to the game, and the quantity of them works perfectly when mixed with the base game tiles. Although, I have to admit, I did manufacture a higher quantity of the two new room types in my first few games, just because I wanted to use them more often. You know, new stuff! It’s always exciting right! This is a brilliant tile-laying game, and probably my favourite of its type. I do enjoy the two-player game, with the new rules a great deal. Its quick and simple to play, and a lot of fun to score, although timely. But this game shines in the higher player counts and the conversations it creates both during and after the game. If you are looking for a new tile-laying experience and think you could get it to the table in higher numbers every now and then, then this could be a real winner.

Attack of the Intergalactic Gherkins! WBG Score: 6.5/10 Player Count: 2-6 You'll like this if you like: Plotalot, Unstable Unicorns, Cockroach Poker. Published by Teleporthole Games Ltd Designed by Andrew Klinkenberg Are you looking for some 'B-Movie' fun for your table? From the name alone I think you already know what this game is going to be like, and after playing for the first time, you won’t be disappointed. This game, as the name suggests, is just about having some fun! You cannot take this game too seriously, although it does have some clever card play and interaction. The game advertises itself as the 'best B-Movie that was never made in card game form,' and if you take this attitude to the table, you will be in for a treat! The game is set after some brave astronauts have been sucked through a black hole whilst escaping the terrifying 'Intergalactic Gherkins'. Now stranded, the astronauts need to rebuild their ships to try and be the first to sling shot around the Sun and return home. The aim of the game is to collect enough ship repair cards and then get out of dodge. But beware the 'Intergalactic Gherkins' will be out to stop you? Why? Does it matter, just get it done captain! To set up the game, lay out the four planets around the Sun. Underneath each planet, place one ship part per player. Shuffle the deck and deal four cards to each player and begin. On your turn, after drawing one card from the deck, you can play as many cards from your hand as you like. Powers on the cards vary from allowing you to pick up more cards such as the ‘Solar Eclipse,’ exchange your cards for other players ship parts using the ‘Wormhole,’ or the ‘Conjunction,’ will let you steal a turn when used with other cards. Turns will pass by quickly, and you will need to pay close attention to see how the other players are progressing. The main action you will want to be doing is moving from planet to planet. When you do this, it will immediately end your turn, but you can then search under the planet card for ship parts. Once you have four of these, you can then move to the Sun card and win the game. But beware of the Gherkins! If you flip over 'Gherkins Attack!' card then you must immediately either lose a ship parts card or two cards from your hand. Unless you have an ‘Antimatter’ card which will allow you to stop the attack, or the ‘Rocket Pickle Jar’ which allow you to send the attack over to another player. (Which is always fun!) There is a fair bit of ‘take-that’ in this game with cards such as the ‘Meteor Shower’ allowing you to stop other players from moving, the ‘Cloaking Device’ letting you stop another player from finding ships parts, the ‘Cosmic Ray’ card giving you the chance to take any card from another players hand, and the ‘Alliterating Aliens… Appropriating Artifacts’ card forcing all players at a planet to lose one card at random. Although of course this last one will most probably affect the person who plays it too. Playing this game is fast and a lot of fun. It can become a bit of a tug-of-war when a player with three ship parts often becomes targeted to stop them from winning. And some players won’t enjoy the take-that aspect of some of the cards. But this is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and you shouldn’t either. The art is bright, vibrant, and rather amusing. It has a South Park style to it in both looks and humour. If the character cards offered minor asymmetric powers, that may have offered the game a little more edge. Also, perhaps missions given to each player for them to acquire specific ship parts may have given this game a little something more. Although there are advanced rules which require players to get four specifc ship parts instead of just any four, and with the kickstarter there are plans for Team and Solo versions. But if you are looking for a family-friendly card game then this will certainly deliver a lot of fun and laughter at your gaming table. The kickstarter will go live on October 5th and you can check the pre-launch page here.

WolfWalkers: My Story WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 2 You'll like this if you like: Point Salad, Star Realms, Splendor Published by Value Add Games Designed by Maja Milavec WolfWalkers is an animated film, set in Ireland in the late 17th century. The film follows the conflict between a pack of Wolves in the forest and the residents of Kilkenny who are working to clear the woods under the orders of Oliver Cromwell. There was a board game version of the film made in 2020, and now there is this card game version from Value Add Games. The film received critical acclaim for its ethereal and mesmerizing style which is certainly felt in this game with the art from the movie being directly transferred to these cards. But how does it play? The game can be taught and learnt in a few minutes but has some very interesting scoring opportunities available. The game is a straight out shoot out between two players looking to build the highest value tableau. Each card is double sided, with a scoring and picture side. To set up, simply place four cards showing the story side and two showing the point scoring side into a group on the middle of the table. Players will then take it in turn to claim one card from the six available. Whatever they take is then replaced like for like. Either a picture card with another picture card, or a scoring card with a scoring card so there is always the same option of four and two available. You can add your card anywhere you like to your grid so long as it orthogonally touches one other previously placed card. Play continues until both players have completed a five-by-five grid. At which point each player scores their collected cards. Each picture card has one, two, three, or four symbols on the bottom left. The scoring cards then set challenges around collecting certain symbols on your face up pictures cards. This can be goals such as having the same amount of two specific types of symbols in your tableau, having certain symbols positioned in a certain order, shape, row, or column; or having certain symbols not present in certain rows or columns. This is all linked to creating your own story, your own version of the film. On your turn, you will either be looking to add a new scoring card into your tableau or a certain picture to develop one of your existing scoring cards. On some occasions, neither option will be attractive or available, and you may need to speculate to accumulate. From the middle stages of the game onwards, when you have two or three scoring cards present, it will become a bit of a ‘brain-burner’ trying to determine which card from the six available is the best for you. And then when you have chosen the card, where is best to place it can be equally troublesome. There can be some analysis paralysis issues from this. And not always simply from trying to decide what is the right move, but sometimes just trying to ascertain any move. The puzzle created from this game certainly has familiar feelings of Azul, Sagrada and Calico to it. But certainly in a lighter way. Trying to line up the symbols and cards in a way to maximise your point return is equally absorbing and challenging. The sense of satisfaction when you make it work is highly rewarding and keeps you coming back for more. Games can run from 10-20minutes. So, very much short enough to want to play again after just one game. As such, we often play a ‘best of three’ when we play. The game also comes with an advanced game variatiant which introduces ‘Permanent’ and ‘Opportunity’ cards. The ‘Opportunity’ cards give each player different actions they can use once per game. ‘Permanent’ cards change the game for both players. These cards can be introduced at set-up where one ‘Permanent’ card and three ‘Opportunity’ cards are picked at random, and placed face up for both players to see. The ‘Permanent’ cards change the game for all instantly and the ‘Opportunity’ cards are available to select as one-time actions during the game. Players can use these rules or opportunities as and when they see fit. They don’t replace their turn when used but they also don’t have to be used at all. This is like the Scenarios expansion for Star Realms and works very well to add more variation and longevity to the game. I really enjoy playing this game. It benefits from the gorgeous, detailed, and vibrant art no doubt. I also love the simplicity of the teach and actions. It is nice to get into a game as quickly as this, with one simple rule and action. Pick a card, place a card. The variation in scoring options available along with the advanced variant makes every keep feel a little different. But the key for me is the simplicity. I like games like this but often find them too complicated or that variation has been added to keep the game different because it is not a lot of fun to start with. Some may find that is the case with this, but I enjoy the simple puzzle this creates. I like trying to line up my cards and maximise the efficiency of my tableau. I love games like Azul, Sagrada and Calico but am terrible at them. They have one too many things for my brain to think about. WolfWalkers has just the right amount for me. Both my children really enjoyed this game too. Even more so after they watched the film! I don’t think it brings any especially new to the genre, but it does hit a nice entry level spot for this type of game.

Gamelyn Games Feature How many Tiny Epic games have you played? Have you played any at all? Are you intrigued by the ‘tiny’ idea behind these games? Do you think it is genius idea or a marketing gimmick? Well, let’s settle down to look at some of the best titles in the collection to see which Tiny Epic game rules them all! Tiny Epic Defenders Set in the time after the game depicted in Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Tiny Epic Defenders is a cooperative game where players must work together to defend the land from constant attacks, and ultimately defeat the final end game boss, the ‘Epic Foe.’ This is done by moving around the seven different game areas, and protecting each area of land, securing each regions threat, and using their own and the lands unique abilities. This has the feel of a computer game to me. There is a ‘grind style’ to the way you need to work your way around the various locations and cycle through the deck’s enemy cards enough times to reach the final round where you must face the ‘Epic Foe.’ You are playing the same game over and over, seeing if you can outlast the game. Trying to stay alive long enough to defeat the ‘Epic Foe’ and become victorious. It becomes a war of attrition. So, is this fun? Well yes! If you like a grind, then this could well be your favourite game of the collection. I love the feeling of slowly working my way through the enemy cards knowing each round I am moving one step closer to winning the game. So long as I can stay alive! There is a real sense of achievement from this. Working cooperatively, I enjoy discussing what are the right tactics and trying to outlast the game. There is some luck in terms of being in the right place at the right time, but ultimately, the game rewards players who are willing to take on the hoards of enemies and brave out the storm. Different parts of the land will certainly fall, and new enemies will come to test you. Utilising the many different artifacts and working as a team is crucial in this game. This is certainly my favourite cooperative game in the Tiny Epic series. Tiny Epic Dinosaurs There is something simply joyous about tiny dinosaurs meeples! It’s a worn out cliché to say, especially with this range of games, but there is so much ‘game’ in this box! For what is a simple worker placement and set collection game, Tiny Epic Dinosaurs is incredibly enjoyable to play. It feels very involved and absorbing throughout. You are playing as Dinosaur ranchers, trying to maximise the space and efficiency in your Dinosaur breading farm. You need to collect resources, assign roles to your ranchers, arrange your ranch in the most efficient way, ensure all your dinosaurs remain well fed and happy, and breed the right dino’s to satisfy the demands of the contracts on the market. There are four main dinosaurs to breed, and then 15 other unique dinosaurs available via genic testing using the research cards, offering greater rewards. Getting one and fulfilling a private contract requiring a specific unique dinosaur is a highly satisfying experience. The game is played over six rounds and the rancher with the most points scored from successfully completing contracts, research cards and for any remaining dinosaurs in their ranch is the winner. Each choice you make in the game feels tight and important. You will feel fully immersed throughout the game as everything do will feel essential to your potential success. As you assign your ranchers, there are limited spots and getting to the right place early before it is gone is a tense and exciting affair. The entire game is so brilliantly made and so tightly made. It feels like the most well-oiled game from the series and is my favourite game to play solo or competitively in a two-player. Tiny Epic Zombies There are multiple ways to experience this game. Either from the zombies or humans’ perspective and in both competitive and co-op mode. The game is set in a mall where Zombies are terrorising the locals, and it is your job to try and stop them. Unless of course, you are playing as the zombies, in which case, it is your job to claim ground against the previous inhabitants, who insist of impaling your friends heads with a variety of weapons! This is the most impressive game when set up. It has a commanding table presence for such a small box game. There is a lot of variety with the double-sided mall cards and different modes of play. The multiple different objectives you can work on also expand the game a great deal. In one game you could be trying to fix the Helicopter, attempting to call the C.D.C. and trying to investigate the source of the outbreak. The next, your goals could be to trying to assemble an arsenal of weapons, help escort the army, and ultimately escape the mall. And in another game, the goals may be to discover a cure, quarantine the infected, and try and save the stranded. Each mission feels very different, making each combination in a game feel like a unique experience. And of course, you could be on either side of these roles, playing one time as the humans, and the next as the zombies. This can be done either competitively against the zombies using an AI as the Zombies, cooperatively against the zombie AI, playing as the zombies yourself either against a group of humans either working together or against each other, or in a solo mode. All offer their own unique gameplay, and make this game feel fresh each time it hits the table. There are a wider variety of weapons and items to collect as the humans, and a great selection of characters to chose from. One of my favourite mechanisms in this game is when playing as the human, if you lose all your life, you are not out the game. Rather, your character card is flipped over and handed to the zombie player for them to now use. They now have an extra character to use against you, and you must start again as a new human. If this happens too often, the zombie player will win, you cannot start again endlessly. But this change over of character and dynamic created by this is a clever addition fits the theme and the sense of the game well. Tiny Epic Zombies is my favourite Tiny Epic game because of this variety. I also love zombie games, and the theme so am very biased when it comes to this, so please do take that into account! But the game is solid and would stand up in any theme. This game, at its core, is a pick-up-and-deliver/area majority game at its core. And it does these mechanics as well as I have seen them for a small box game. Neither are my favourite mechanics, but they do them so well and with such variety, the game is brilliant fun to play. I often feel like pick-up-and-deliver games are just asking me to complete a series of chores. But the tension and variability in this game make each game highly rewarding. So, that’s my top 3, but there are plenty of other great Tiny Epic games out there. Let’s take a quick look at some honourable mentions. Tiny Epic Mechs Tooling up a meeple with a variety of weapons is very cool. Placing that meeple into a mech suit and adding even more weapons is a real joy! Getting your meeple into the giant mech is just downright ‘nerdgasmic’! As such, this game looks on surface value like an amazing game! But there is way less direct interaction that you may expect. This is much more of an area control game that a fighting one, and that needs to be addressed before you can judge the game. The core mechanic is the programming. In a battle arena, players are looking to control as many areas of the board as possible with their mines, turrets, and player piece. You will plan your actions in a sequence, and then enact your plan in turn. You may think moving left, collecting and then jumping forward to fight is a good idea based on what is in front of you at the time of planning. But the player you were about to target could have moved on to a new space by the time this happens. This random movement is why battles often don’t happen, and I find in a game, there will often only be one or two occasions when a fight actually takes place. This is fine, the game is still good without it. It is just the expectation does not quite meat the reality. If you like area control, this is a great game. It looks great, has some amazing components and will be very appealing to younger players, even if they don’t actually want to play the game. My kids often play with the parts from this game for hours after an actual game is finished! I suppose this is one way to get the fight to happen! Ultra Tiny Epic Galaxies The ultra tiny version of this game comes in a box the size of a playing cards, and never before has the phrase, ‘looks can be deceiving’ been more appropriate. Inside this small box, is more than just cards. There are cubes, mini tokens, dice and much more. Galaxies is one of the most popular games in the Tiny Epic series, hence why they chose it for this Ultra tiny variant. It would have easily made my top three were it not for one simple fact. This is perhaps too small for me. The ‘Tiny’ part of the ‘Tiny Epic’ is most certainly a gimmick. It suits production and shipping costs too, and of course is advantageous when it comes to storage. But there is no doubt in my mind that these games would be a little more user friendly for some in a larger size. I understand why it was done, and I love all the games, but I do hope one day they do an ‘Ultra Large’ variation! Now, with this ‘Ultra Tiny’ spin off, I love the novelty of having so much game in something the size of a pack of cards. It fits in my pocket and I often take it with me on trains or to the pub. But the reality is, it is so fiddly, and the pieces are so small, that you need a stable, flat surface and some keen eyes to make it work. The game is brilliant, and probably my favourite of the lot. But the size just doesn’t work for me. I am very glad I bought it, and have played it loads. So, this is full of contradictions I know. I am just campaigning for the larger variations one day. I think if Gamelyn Games kickstarted an Ultra Large Epic variation of their games it would be huge! Don’t you? Tiny Epic Quest, Dungeons, Kingdoms, Pirates, Tactics and Western all look amazing too! For transparency, I have not played these ones yet. They could all have made this list had I played them. I hope to add my thoughts on them to this one day.

by @blendedfamilygamers Our family has always been a fan of board games. Growing up, I played a lot of classics, like Monopoly, Clue, and Scrabble. My husband’s family exposed me to the world of modern board gaming through Catan and Villainous, and a mutual friend of ours shared Carcassonne. When the pandemic hit, we found ourselves unexpectedly homeschooling my first-grade stepson through the end of first grade and all of second. Curriculum design wasn’t new to me, but through the wonderful world of Pinterest, I discovered gameschooling. Gameschooling was a massive blessing for our family, and allowed Monkey (stepson) to learn through play rather than screen time and worksheets. We invested in games specifically meant for education, like Sum Swamp and Ecosystem, but also in games that met Monkey’s interests, like Organ Attack (anatomy), Engineering Ants, Robot Turtles (coding), and Minecraft Builders & Biomes. Game nights became huge for us, both educationally and for fun, and I learned that the entire family loved board games! Throughout the pandemic, our collection grew from maybe 15-20 games to nearly 250. Narrowing it down to three games was pretty difficult, but these three games are games I find myself returning to time and time again. Arch Ravels I originally bought this with my mother-in-law in mind. Not only is she a board game fan, but she’s big into knitting. We played this one and were both incredibly impressed! I love the yarn and the wooden bowls. Additionally, I geek out every time we play over the nerdy projects to complete, like House Scarves, Dragons, and Snugglesaurus. This one makes it to our table at least once a month! Isle of Cats This game surprised me by being not at all what I expected. I avoided this one previously without much interest because the name seemed silly. However, when the most recent KS came out, I decided to see if someone local had a copy for me to borrow. One play and I fell in love. I discovered the polyomino mechanic is one of my favorites. I love the many different ways to win and that this is competitive but not in a take that way. I will gladly play this one any time anyone asks! Dice Throne Adventures I purchased Dice Throne second hand for a huge discount thinking it would be a nice break from Monkey’s obsession with Dungeon Mayhem. Little did I know, this would become a family and friend favorite. Dice Throne is probably the most popular game we own and it sees table time multiple times per week. I’m not a huge take that fan, which is pretty much the entire purpose of Dice Throne. I’ll play because everyone enjoys it and I love family time, but when I found DTA, which turns Dice Throne cooperative instead of competitive, I had to invest. This dungeon crawler doesn’t see as much table time simply because of the play time, but it’s such a huge hit every time we play. And those are some of my favorites! I started my Instagram to gain more exposure to games that our family would love and to share my love of gaming with the gaming community. Thanks for joining our journey!

Sandwich Masters WBG Score: 6.5/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Unstable Unicorns, Plotalot, Dungeon Mayhem Published by: Big Punch Studios Designed by: Nich Angell Coming from first time designer Nich Angell, Sandwich Masters is a delightful little card game that takes two large slices of hand management and set collection and fills it with a large spreading of humour and some juicy slithers of take-that. This is all served up on a large plate of family-friendly fun. Sandwich Masters is simple to learn and play and can be adapted easily for any ages from four up. If you are looking for a straightforward card game to enjoy with your loved ones, then this could be for you! But watch out for the Special Sauce! In the vicious and overly competitive world of the lunch time sandwich market, there is only one way to outlast the competition. Make Sandwiches the quickest! Although, if you get some rotten ingredients like a defaced chicken breast into your products and someone calls the health inspector on you, it might be time to find a new job! Fulfil your orders whilst those around you fall to the law, and maybe you will stand victorious. The game works very simply. Each player is given seven ingredients cards. These could be things you actually want, such as some tasty bacon, juicy tomatoes or freshly made eggs. Or things that are somewhat less desirable, perhaps destined for your competitors. There are order cards in the game which will show specific sandwiches with certain ingredients. These are the Sandwiches currently required by the customers and the sarnies you need to make to win the game. Players must then make these sarnies to collect the points in the game, ‘Nosh bucks’. ‘Evil ingredients’ can be played into your opponent’s sandwiches, which may not be the worst thing, but if a health inspector card is later played and someone is caught with a hairy egg in their sandwich then its curtains! Event cards can cause chaos too, such as the fridge fuse blowing, forcing all players to discard their dairy products from their hand. You can make up to four sandwiches at a time, and the first to certain amount of money, or most money in a certain amount of time wins. You can play however you like. We like having a time limit. But the game rules officially are based on either a time or money goal of your choice, it’s up to you! The game plays very quickly and turns will fly round at a frantic pace. You will make grand plans and have them dashed multiple times. Perhaps by fate, maybe from your opponent’s fulfilling orders that you are desperately working on, before you get the chance to add the final ingredient. Or it could be all ruined by the multiple take-that attacks from the other players in the kitchen. The orders you could be working on vary a great deal. Some are simple one or two ingredient sandwiches which offer simple £5 rewards. Others, like the ‘Chefs Special’ offer £5 per filling and could be a towering pile of ingredients and ‘Nosh bucks’! Although of course, the bigger orders take longer to make and so will be open to more attacks. Due to their time on the kitchen preparation table and their juicy points that are on offer to you, other players will find it hard not to want to destroy it all! On your turn, you may either play one type of ingredient from your hand, move a top ingredient already laid on one of your sandwiches to another, or discard as many cards as you like from your hand and replace them with new cards from the draw deck. You will always refill your hand back to seven at the end of your turn, so you can cycle through the deck and get the ingredients you want quite quickly. The health inspector cards come in three main varieties. There is the ‘Lazy’ inspector who just focuses on the top ingredients of the target player, forcing them to discard any sandwich with a bad top layer. The ‘Jobsworth’ inspector forces the targeted player to discard all sandwiches with bad fillings anywhere in them, not just the top layer. And then the rare but feared ‘Strict” inspector forces the targeted player to discard all open sandwiches if just one of them has one single bad ingredient within it! But fear not! Like all good government employees, all inspectors can be bribed for a small sum of £5, £10 or £20 ‘Nosh dosh’ depending on which one it is. Players do have the option to keep particularly profitable sandwiches on the go if they chose to follow a life of crime! But this money sacrifice, in what can sometimes be a low scoring game can be tough to take. Especially if you are playing to time or a low money target. It can be tough to make this money back sometimes. Having one of these Health Inspector cards in your hand at the same time as an ‘Attack Condiment’ which can only be played on your opponent’s sandwiches is a joyful thing to behold in a game like this. Seeing the grin on my children’s faces when this is the case and I know I am about to be attacked is quite hilarious! The game comes with two mini expansions, offering extra cards to keep the game fresh. The ‘Attack Pack’ adds new attack condiments and extra Health inspectors to increase the likelihood of these cards coming up and being used, for a more aggressive style game. And ‘Order Up!’ includes new orders and blank order cards so that players can create their own perfect, or horror Sandwich. All expansion cards are clearly labelled with their own symbol, so they can be added or removed with ease. Taking these out also of course opens the opportunity to remove all the health inspector and bad ingredient cards, if you don’t want any take that in the game, If you don’t enjoy this mechanic, then it is easy to remove these from the game if you so choose. The art in this game is bright, vibrant and easily recognisable for young players. There is a bit of frivolity too with a personal favourite being the ‘Defaced Chicken’ card, which has a chicken breast covered in graffiti including an angry stick man saying “poop” in a speech bubble, a mobile number, and the word “Arse!” Sadly, the mobile number is a digit short and doesn’t call through to an angry restaurant owner wondering why they keep getting prank calls from people playing a card game. But it’s a great card none-the-less. My only minor gripes are that the stock isn’t the best and it makes it hard to shuffle the deck without damaging the cards, and I do feel a few extra things could have been added to make this game more unique. But a recent Kickstarter expansion has just fulfilled. I have backed this and I am excited to see what this brings to the kitchen table. Oh, and the cards don’t quite fit in the box. I assume because of the expansions. But they slide about on the top as there are around 10 too many cards for the box. But these are small things, and I only mention them for transparency. It doesn’t affect the enjoyment of the game, and I think we will enjoy many more games of this. Although it does tend to make me hungry for rotten eggs for some reason?

WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 4-8 You'll like this if you like: The Chameleon, One Night Werewolf, The Resistance Published by Big Potato Designed by Phil Walker-Harding I went to Australia a couple of times, and you know what I saw everywhere? Snakes. They were in the bush. In the garden. In the sea! Even serving at the local pub one time, although that was Nimbin?? Since then, snakes have been seen on a plane, rakes and once on the canal near where I live! (That last one is the only one with any truth). But now, they are entering the wonderful world of board games. The lovely folks over at Big Potato Games have decided to grow their ever expanding collection of fantastic family-friendly party games with 2021 release Snakesss. A new contender for the throne of Top Dog… err, I mean, Snake! The idea is simple. Every player is given a character tile. They will either be a ordinary human, a snake, or the Mongoose of Truth. Identities are kept secret unless you are the Mongoose, or Mongo as my daughter calls it. In which case you claim the Mongoose character piece and place it in front of you so everyone knows that at least you, amongst all the other potential snakes, can be trusted. Question cards are then revealed and everyone closes their eyes. One player then asks for the snakes and only the snakes to open their eyes as they rotate the card to reveal the answer to the snake players. All questions are multiple choice with three potential answers. None are questions anyone would usually know off the top of their head, but are more good fun things to debate. The snakes will now know the answer but no one else will. Everyone then closes their eyes, the card is flipped back over before everyone then opens their eyes. You then have two minutes to debate the answer. The snakes are looking to influence the other players to guess the wrong one. But they don't want to be too obvious as otherwise no one will trust them! The other players are all trying to identify the snakes so they know who not to trust and of course, determine the right answer. Once everyone is ready or the time is up, players then use their voting tiles to reveal their answer. Either A, B, or C. If you are the snake you must chose the snake tile to reveal their identify. Snakes don't get to guess becasue of course they know the answer. Players reveal their tiles simultaneously and the card is flipped to show the correct answer. If you were a human or the mongoose you get a point for every correct answer on the table, not just your own. If you are the snake, you score a point for everyone who got it wrong. The idea is to play six rounds and see who gets the most points. But like most party games, you can play for as long as you like or however you like. The tools are here to have a lot of fun. It's up to you how you want to police that! Or not, as the case may be. We found the fun is in the debate and that can sometimes last a lot longer than two minutes! Just make sure everyone is still enjoying themselves! This game works in a four up to an eight. The rules give you the recommended number of snakes and humans to have for each player count. There is always one Mongoose. In a four player they recommend two snakes and one human. This does make it easy for everyone to work out who is what though as one is obviously the mongoose and if you are not the snake you know the other two non-identifed players are. And if you are the snake, you know who the other one is from when you open your eyes, and therefore, who the ordinary human is. This is still fun, but sometimes a little difficult to play the game. I reccomend to shuffle in an extra human tile before you deal one out to each player, and always have one unidentified tile not used. This may be a bit of an oversite in the rules. But it is easy to fix. But this game shines with more players. I found it best in an eight. Which I only got to try on a few occasions, but on both of those times, we played for hours! It was with people who don’t play many games and I tentatively suggested a game... well, left a brightly covered box in plain site and waited for someone to ask about it! But that seemed to do the trick, and the game was a huge hit each time. This game has similar vibes to The Chameleon but has less pressure if you are a specific character. Being the Chameleon can be hard for younger players. But I have played Snakesss with people from six to mid-seventies, and everyone was equally happy no matter what character they were. Obviously, some people are better at playing the snake than others. But it is not always about hard-line arguments or lies. Sometimes it’s the quiet ones you have to be careful of! If this sounds fun to you, this game is sure to be a hit at your next game night and is the perfect party game for families. It perhaps doesn’t have quite the same highs as games like The Chameleon, but it also doesn’t have the potential flat rounds. And is also a lot more accessible. This is not a general knowledge party game. This is not a performance based party game. This is a game of bluffing and deduction and fun. But maybe I’m the snake. Perhaps you cannot trussst a word I am saying!

By @cogitoergomeeple Playing a board game is definitely one of the best ways to spend an evening (in my opinion anyway!). I started playing modern board games several years back and I now design games with the team at Cogito ergo Meeple. The latest being Philosophia: Floating World which is a simultaneous deck-builder for 1-6 players set in Feudal Japan. I love the experiences that board games offer and, as you may be able to tell from my top 3, I particularly appreciate games that have a strong theme which connects seamlessly with the mechanics. Needless to say I really enjoy many other games too, but these three are the ones that make regular appearances on my tabletop and, in my opinion, could never outstay their welcome! Viticulture One of the first modern board games I ever played and a perfect fit for wine-lovers like myself! The artwork in the game is excellent and the game itself includes quality components (my personal favourites are the glass wine beads!). The game is also very thematic which is something that’s important to me. Many games I’ve come across use the artwork as one of the main ways to represent the theme, but in Viticulture it is embedded into the mechanics; the act of planting your vines, harvesting them, ageing them… it really makes the whole game come together which I find very satisfying! I also love how replayable it is and the fact that it works well at different player counts. An all-round great game! I highly recommend a crisp white New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for the perfect pairing! Raiders of the North Sea I love all the interesting decisions that can be made on your turn, I always feel there is something I can do to help me progress. I also really enjoy the player interaction aspect of this game. When taking the ‘work’ action, you have to place one of your workers in an available building that corresponds to a specific action and then pick up another from a different building which gives you a second action. This makes me want to not only think about the actions I want to take in my next few turns, but to pay attention to what my opponent(s) are doing so I can block them. A thoroughly enjoyable game with tons of interesting decisions! I’ve actually just bought Raiders of Scythia. It hasn’t hit the table yet but I have high expectations as I’ve heard it removes the ‘take that’ element from Raiders of the North Sea which isn’t my favourite. Inis I have no other way to begin but to mention this game’s artwork - what a dream! The territories are absolutely beautiful and you really feel like you’re sucked into the world of Inis as you expand and travel into different territories and build your clan. I really like the card drafting aspect of this game where, in the first phase of a round, players pass the deck of cards around, taking one card each time. This helps you build your strategy and gather ideas about your opponents and what they might be planning to do. I also love that it has multiple paths to victory which adds to the variety from game to game. Overall, a strategic game played across beautiful Celtic lands, I highly recommend! I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about my Top 3 games of all time. I love discussing and hearing other peoples’ thoughts on board games so hit me up if you want to get the conversation started: cogitodesignchannel@gmail.com

Tapestry Plans and Ploys WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Viscounts of the West Kingdom, Wingspan, Lost Ruins of Arnak Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier If you are looking for a review of Tapestry, then head here. If you are looking for the expanion, Plans and Ploys you are in the right place. But read it quick, you may need to head to the shops afterwards. I am about to get very excited about cardboard! Tapestry is a fantastic game. I love the look, feel and variety in the base box. It’s the type of game that doesn’t need an expansion because it feels quite complete, but it is certainly rife for multiple ones due to the Civilisation cards, like the alien races in Cosmic Encounter, being endlessly expandable. But here we are! The first expansion for this brilliant game. Let’s roll through the main additions and changes. 7 landmark miniatures and Landmark cards. These are the main new additions to the game and are a fantastic development to the game for a number of reasons. The landmark cards work by each player being giving out one card during set-up. The player who is taking the last turn gets the first pick, and this alone is a nice way to balance out the turn order. Each landmark card will have a specific goal on it. Players do not have to complete this task; they can avoid it entirely if they wish. But if they achieve it, they then can add the specific landmark miniature to their capital city. This is a nice way to earn a landmark building compared to the usual way which is often more of a race as to who can get to that part of the game track first. Designer Jamey Stegmaier talks about the cards also offering some direction to new players at the start of the game. With four tracks to move round, and the choice being entirely up to each player as to which one they start with, having some small prod in one tracks direction can be a welcoming guide for your first few turns. The cards ask you to try and have at least two complete districts, at least one complete row or column, or at least three income buildings of the same type in your capital city; or have at least six territory tiles in your supply or at least one science card in your top row. These tasks can encourage players to go down different routes from each other. This helps spread out the play a little which for a four-player game I find can be quite helpful in the first few rounds. I like this addition and will use in every game moving forward. Not all players will fulfil the task early or at all, but I do like the chance to get a building that only I can get and the sense of direction this offers new players. There are only five of these cards so the other two landmarks can be gained via either one of the new Tapestry cards or one of the new Space tiles. 15 new Tapestry cards These bring in a new ‘zest’ to the game. Jamey talks in the rulebook about wanting to reward ‘conquering’ which is my least favourite part of the game. But was based on Jamey’s desire to encourage and reward more ‘sneaky and clever’ play. ‘Manifest Destiny’ allows players to conquer a territory adjacent to your capital city and then gain the benefit on any territory you control. ‘Surprise Party’ is a great card to play when an opponent tries to conquer you. It allows you to topple their outpost instead and gain 15 more points if you are more advanced on the military track than they are. The ‘Double Cross’ allows you to counter a ‘Trap’ card to essentially ‘Nope’ that card and gain an extra five points. There are many others too, and they all add a sneaky twist or extra element or landmark building to the game. Ten new Civilisation mats. This is the most obvious way to expand this game. Playing with new civilisation mats for the first time is exciting for me. And more mats mean’s more ‘first times!’ Here in Plans and Ploys we have Spies, Advisors, Treasure Hunters, Infiltrators, Recyclers, Tinkerers, Aliens, Utilitarians, Islanders and Riverfolk. They all bring their new fresh way to play the game and I think will breathe an air of life into the game for those who have played the base game civilisations multiple times. I like the way the Aliens allow you to explore the space tiles a lot quicker, and the Spies offer a fun way to earn benefits from neighbouring players. But my favourite new civilisation mat is Utilitarians. They allow the player using this mat to start the game with one tier II landmark and gain benefits whenever you gain extra landmark buildings. I love chasing after the buildings in the game. I find the process of filling my capital city enjoyable. Trying to piece everything together in a ‘tetris’ style is a lot of fun. Completing districts, rows and columns is very satisfying. But now getting extra benefits from simply getting the buildings is an extra reason to chase down the buildings. 4 space tiles. These offer the chance to get more benefits when you manage to achieve the feat of space travel. Jamey spoke of the feedback from the base game where players felt that reaching this huge feat should be more richly rewarded . Another simply gives you the Monolith landmark miniature which feels quite exciting in a Space Odyssey sort of way! Scenarios for solo play. This is a fantastic addition to the solo version of this game. I enjoy most Stonemaier solo games. The ‘Automa’ is a brilliant system that is always very clearly explained with options for varying difficulties. I love campaign games and find this an easy way to make solo experiences better so I was delighted to see these five new scenarios in this expansion have this option. They can be played as one offs, or as a series of challenges and I love the second option. They add a bit of story and a focus to each game and work well to make the solo experience more challenging. There is also the addition of a small hessian bag for the territory tiles to be placed in and 12 landmark tokens to lay on the board at set up which help to serve as a reminder to the players when a specific building has gone. When the first player reaches this space, the tile is removed. If you want to see which buildings are left and where they are, this makes assessing the board a lot easier. It's a useful addition. Overall, this is a brilliant little expansion. If you like Tapestry, this will add a lot and keep the game fresh for many more games. If you don’t like the vase game, this wont change that. There are some small tweaks to make the game work better against some small grievances. But it doesn’t drastically change anything as I don’t think that was necessary. The one thing I would like to see in future expansions is more narrartive brought in. I love civilisation games for the story the create as you play. This is lost a little in Tapestry and I would like to see more of this added and something brought in that would encourage players to care more about the specific technologies they are advancing in, and the order they do this. I find this is sadly completely overlooked most games I play. I look forward to more expansions for this game and hope that it continues to be supported with more civilisation and tapestry cards and perhaps a bit of story for many years to come.

by @smallfriesgames I'm one of those people that likes picking favourites. I have a favourite colour (blue), snack (crisps), TV show (The Jetsons)... I could go on. I'm also one of those people that never changes. My favourites have been my favourites since I was very little. Unsurprisingly, there has been very little movement in my top 3 tabletop games for years. In fact, 2 of my top 3 have been there for almost 30 years.... Anyone who follows me will probably know what they are, but for those of you who don't.. and for those of you wondering why...read on... My favourite game of all time is Magic The Gathering. It is the best deckbuilding game out there. I have spent many, many years of my life building all sorts of decks full of vampires, merfolk, werewolves and a plethora of other wonderful, magical creatures. I don't think there is much better in life than a MTG draft with friends and a big packet of crisps. If you love deck building like me and you haven't played MTG you are definitely missing out (though you will certainly be richer for it). The blind boosters get me every time! I vividly remember my brother teaching me magic back when it came out in the 90s, I had no idea what he was going on about... Mana and tapping - I was so confused...but we kept playing and we still play magic together today. THE BEST! (For those who care, I play black.) My second favourite game is Boggle. Like Magic, Boggle has been a solid favourite of mine since I was a kid and I can't see that ever changing. I love the speedy game play, the simple anagrams and the fact that I can pretty much thrash anyone who challenges me. Did I mention that I'm a very competitive gamer? (No Co-ops for me thanks!) My third favourite game is fairly new to the spot, but it certainly deserves to be there - Food Chain Magnate! It's such a me game - The theme, the mechanics, the super competitive gameplay, did I mention the theme? I really enjoy trying to perfect my strategies and love that there's always so much to think about every turn. Oh and I absolutely adore the retro aesthetic. So, those are my top 3 tabletop games. Thanks for reading about them. Do any of them feature in your top 3 too? Nat @smallfriesgames Editors note. Nat is the designer of many amazing games, including Knock Knock! First Words. Her first self published title here. A fantastic game that I would highly reccomend for any new parents or gifts to people with such blessings!

WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count: 1-4 You'll like this if you like: Choose Your Own Adventure, Tales of Arabian Nights, Forgotten Waters Published by Big Potato Designed by Ed Naujokas What Next? is a fascinating game. It blends story telling in a ‘choose your own adventure’ style with mini dexterity challenges in a way I have not seen before. I was instantly intrigued when I saw the game being excellently demonstrated by the wonderful @buryboardgames and @nothern_dice at the @Zatu stand at @ukgamesexpo I was hooked and wanted to play again and again! Now, after owning the game for a few weeks, I can safely say, that this feeling hasn’t gone away! The game is a lot of fun, the three story’s are highly entertaining and the process of picking your path through the various narratives is genuinely absorbing. I took the game on a recent camping trip with my family and we started off playing the game each night as a replacement for our usual bedtime story with the little ones. But due to the excitement of the adventures we were on, we quickly started playing in the daytime game sessions as well. The game wraps you up in its coils and grips you until each adventure is done; and then you want to try again right away. People often say a good game is one that you can’t stop thinking about after you play it, which I very much agree with. This game certainly has a lot of those powers of attention and obsession. Coming from the good people at Big Potato Games, the team behind some of my favourite party games of all time; Top of the Pops, The Chameleon, the recent Snakesss and my all-time number one party game, 20 Second Showdown; you know this game is going to have a certain family-friendly party game flavour. But this game has a different style and is quite different to anything the east London publishers have done before. It feels more of a full on experience than a normal party game, with the narrative and card play fuelling a different, bigger game atmosphere. As you play What Next? the usual laughter and frivolity of a party game is certainly present, but not in the same way as the usual Big Potato production. Built alongside the fun, a co-operative adventure awaits, offering a more inclusive experience for younger families. Built within the games core are the gripping and entertaining stories. There are three in the box. But the thing that really sets this game apart from other games of its ilk, are the dexterity games and challenges mixed within the story. There is a clever sense of theme built within within each one, as every mini challenge is linked to what you are currently doing in the story. If you are trying to reach through a hole to grab an item, the challenge then would be to feel inside a bag of multiple random shapes to try and pick out the one that fits the silhouette on a card. Or, if you are hurtling along an old mine shaft in an out of control cart, and you need to hit the junction lever to change direction. Well, then flick a tile along a table to knock off a wooden piece positioned near the edge without letting the tile fall of the table in an old game of shove-ha'penny. Everything is thematically linked, and of course your performance will directly influence your chances of success in the game. But don’t worry, nothing is make or brake! Out of the box there are three different adventures to go on. I won’t go into too much detail here on the stories as I don’t want to spoil any surprises. But suffice to say, they all feel very different, and they are all very much repayable. People often ask in games like this if it is essentially a ‘one-shot’. We have played the first game six times so far and I still want to play again. I know from the Zatu crew who demonstrated the game at the UK Games Expo, that after playing non-stop for three days, they were still seeing different paths chosen and new mini games being attempted. There are multiple paths to go down for each story based on your decisions and the outcomes of the challenges you take. So, most importantly, re-playing the game is a lot of fun! Completing the game is a simple matter of getting to the end of the story. Which would seem easy if it were not for one clever addition to the game. Each time a story card shows a certain symbol, players must add a peril piece to your Tower of Peril. This is a collection of oddly shaped wooden pieces that must be stacked in a separate balance game that runs throughout each story. Delicately placing each piece can be quite tricky, so make sure you have a stable surface and all players know not to knock it! Most games end with the Tower of Peril falling over rather than any other conclusion. Especially on a rickety camping table! I would say that it is very much possible to remove this element from the game if you get frustrated with your adventures ending prematurely and you just want to see the story reach its full conclusion. But this is the genius of What Next? The blend of dexterity and storytelling is more than a clever idea. The sense that the further into the game you go, and the more daring choices you make, the rewards may be greater, but so too will the risk. Climb a tree to chase a pesky Koala and potentially advance your story in a more strategically advantageous fashion; but you are climbing a tree. You have to accept the consequences of that. You could fall! Another part of the game that keeps the story fresh and each adventure unique is the time dial. As you progress along the story you must turn the dial along one rotation. This will then indicate either the time of day, the sate of the New York power grid, or your robot’s current battery life; depending on which game you are playing. Each story card is double sided showing either a light or dark, and the dial’s current location will determine which side you must play. And of course, there are often more dangers and tougher choices on the reverse side. Within the box, outside of the three main stories, there are over 60 different challenges to complete. Each individual game will typically have between 5-15 of these incorporated depending on how well your Tower of Peril goes! ‘Drums of Koala Cave’ is ranked as an easier story with more simple mini games and a shorter story. The ‘Sky Scraper Caper’ is ranked as medium and ‘Blinky’s Great Escape’ is the hardest in the box, rated 2.5/3 stars. This suggests to me that the designer of this game has ideas for further stories, there has to be a 3 at some point right?! This game is rife for expansions. In this box is all you need to play these three awesome stories. But the game is infinitely expandable with new stories. I hope this game develops in the way Arkham Horror the Card game has and keeps pumping out new adventures at regular intervals. Some of the challenges are time based and a little tricky. But the game allows for practices, and with younger players you could always allow more time or more practices. But failure in a task doesn’t mean failure in the game. Just a different path to take. And you could always assign different players different tasks based on their age and abilities. My family and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. I often get asked what my recommendation for a good family game is, and my answer changes regularly! But I think for a long while, this will be my answer. Everyone feels involved throughout. You can take it in turns to do the challenges, make the choices as a team through a vote; and some of the mini games require multiple players. This is a true team game. But it’s the story that holds this together. No matter whose turn it is, in What Next? all players feel constantly involved and thoroughly entertained.