I'm sure, many of you are tired of hearing all about Essen Spiel 2019. Everyone who went is talking about all the games they saw, played and bought, and anyone who didn't go is reading about all the games everyone saw, played and bought. So I want to talk about the people side of the exhibition and share my experiences of attending this major event for the first time. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/11/05/post-show-blues/ Links Essen Spiel 2019 : https://www.spiel-...
Nov 05, 2019•10 min
Here is another beautifully illustrated game by Ryan Laukat . You will immediately recognize it from his other games, such as Near and Far . You will also recognize a lot of the characters he created in his other games and which appear in Roam as well. Yet, this game from Red Raven Games is quite different from the others. There is no resource management, no movement and no storytelling. Instead, you get a lovely, light game that is very easy to explain and learn and relatively quick to play. Re...
Nov 02, 2019•4 min
It has been nearly a year since I last updated my tabletop player profile using the Quantic Foundry‘s online form. Let’s see what has changed since December 2018. I have played a lot of games since then, so there must be some change. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/10/29/tabletop-player-profile-updated-3/ https://tabletopgamesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/tabletop-player-profile-updated-topic-discussion.mp3 Music: Corporate Ambient by AShamaluevMusic If you w...
Oct 29, 2019•4 min
Feudal Japan is in turmoil. Warring clans are roaming the land to claim territories and gain influence and power, while vying for the favour of the spirits, the Kami, whose support will help cement the superiority over the enemies. As clans form alliances and recruit legendary monsters to bolster their armies' ranks, everyone prepares for multiple battles which will change the face of Japan. Yet, territories are often held only fleetingly as alliances are betrayed and powers shift. It is up to y...
Oct 26, 2019•6 min
I have previously spoken about unique games, which were something new at the time - see my article "There can be only one". It was KeyForge by Fantasy Flight Games and designed by Richard Garfield of Magic: The Gathering fame, which started this new way of making games. There is probably a better and longer description of the term, but in short, the term unique in this context describes games where every published copy is different in a number of ways. In KeyForge this is, for example, the name ...
Oct 22, 2019•6 min
When struggling gramophone salesman Barry discovers a not-so-secret secret lab (I recommend you watch the trailer on Halfbrick's website) which has developed a number of different and increasingly crazy jetpacks, his life changes. He starts with a basic jetpack and flies through the various rooms of the lab to avoid obstacles and find the next and better jetpack to try out for himself. A lot of frantic horizontally scrolling fun ensues, which the boardgame conversion of Jetpack Joyride by Lucky ...
Oct 19, 2019•5 min
Trying to organize a group of people to regularly play games with isn't always straightforward. I am lucky to have a weekly games night group of four, including myself, with people who live quite close, making it easy for us to meet up. I have previously described how you can play games with different groups of people (see "Night, night"). So this time I want to focus on what to consider when trying to organize regular games nights with friends. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesb...
Oct 15, 2019•7 min
It's that time of the year again. The huge Essen Spiel game fair is upon us, so as is custom, here is my list of games that will be at the exhibition and that I'm looking forward to. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/10/12/essen-spiel-2019-most-wanted-saturday-review/ Links Board Game Geek : https://boardgamegeek.com/ Tabletop Together Tool : https://tabletoptogether.com/tool/ If you want to support this podcast financially, please check out the links below: Patreon:...
Oct 12, 2019•8 min
Classifying things we encounter is important. It gives us a way to describe them to others, allows us to decide whether things are similar or different and provides a method to create connections between them. Classifications help us with decision making and prediction. However, classifications alone don't fully describe things and especially when we talk about classifying tabletop games, there are a lot more nuances and details that cannot be described by classifications alone. So I want to exp...
Oct 08, 2019•8 min
A handful of small trees stand at the edge of a clearing. The wind blows gently as the sun starts to rise in the east. You can almost see the trees reaching for the light, as they slowly convert the sunshine into sugars, which is used to grow and produce seeds. Each species will have different survival strategies, but all trees have a natural urge to disperse their seeds towards the middle of the clearing, where there is less competition and more fertile ground. However, it won’t be long until t...
Oct 05, 2019•6 min
A hook, as per the dictionary definition, is something that draws you in. In games, a hook can be a number of different things. Often it is something visually exciting, such as beautiful illustrations, amazingly detailed miniatures, realistic resources or some sort of physical component that is integral to gameplay. Hooks can also be an interesting theme, an exciting gameplay mechanism or even the background story behind how a game was made. Certain awards or even the price of a game can be a ho...
Oct 01, 2019•8 min
Travelling to games night, weighed down with a giant bag full of games isn't easy. I appreciate that many people have a car and use that to get to games night, and that makes sense, especially if you travel a bit further. However, if your friends live only a short while away, then going by bike would be another, and possibly better, option. Yet, a lot of bikes aren't really designed to carry much. Yes, you could get panniers, but they're not ideal. However, these days there are a lot of utility ...
Sep 28, 2019•4 min
It is always nice to get some positive feedback for the work you do, so winning awards is even more satisfying, especially if you receive one of the many prestigious awards from the industry you work in. So far, the Tabletop Games Blog hasn't won any awards, but in this article I am not fishing for praise, but I want to look at the many board game awards that are run every year and show how winning an award affects the popularity of a game, what costs may be attached with some awards and what th...
Sep 24, 2019•8 min
In the world of Arzium, groups of brave adventurers travel from town to town, where they load up on supplies and pack animals and recruit new members, who are willing to join them on the long journey, as they look for a lost city, called Last Ruin, where legend says lies a powerful artefact that will fulfil the finder's innermost wishes. It is time for you to add your name to the list of famous explorers, venture into the wild to collect valuable and useful items, meet new people, return to town...
Sep 21, 2019•6 min
Games change when played with different numbers of players. I think many of us will have found that games that are said to work for two or more players often are quite a different experience when played with two versus more players. Some games are said to work with a larger number of players, but really work best with a specific number. Games, where you form teams, are often like that, working best with an even number of people, even though they're said to also work with odd numbers. I discussed...
Sep 17, 2019•8 min
In a world where every tree is inhabited by its own gentle and benign spirit, it is your important task to ensure that every sapling grows strong and big, and offers a home for as many small creatures and plants as possible, thereby creating harmony and balance in the forest. If you can work in harmony with the seasons and nurture the worms, fireflies, flowers and mushrooms that grow on the tree that you have been tasked to look after, you will come out as the best caretaker and will be generous...
Sep 14, 2019•5 min
I am not sure if you've come across this before, but you may have heard some people on a podcast or in a tabletop games review video talk about a game being overproduced. Often the term is used in a negative way, implying that a game includes unnecessary components and therefore is more expensive than it needs to be. However, different people seem to apply this term to different games in different ways, so I wanted to look at it a bit more closely and see whether we can investigate what overprod...
Sep 10, 2019•8 min
The stock market is in turmoil. There is a financial crisis. Companies' solvency is in doubt. Panic selling has started for some securities. The year is 1792, and 24 stockbrokers meet in Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree to sign an agreement that creates a new way of securities trading, which creates a closed market where everyone can trust each other to honour payments and where investments are legitimate. In Exchange: A Stock Trading Game of Strategy & Wit by Eric Sillies, yo...
Sep 07, 2019•5 min
We all know that the use of plastics has become a huge issue. So-called microplastics, tiny particles of plastic, have been found in fish and other marine life, and more recently even in arctic snow. Only last week did the World Health Organization ask for "further assessment of microplastics in the environment and their potential impacts on human health." A lot of us have started replacing single-use plastics with recyclable alternatives, such as plastic straws with paper ones, or even plastic ...
Sep 03, 2019•10 min
Here is another game that I shouldn't like, because I don't like memory games, what you have to remember where certain cards are. However, there is something very addictive about Silver, the new card game by Bézier Games. I can't put my finger on it, but somehow I look past my dislike of games where I have to remember things when I play Silver. In fact, I can't stop playing it, especially against the AI that comes with the app. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/08/31...
Aug 31, 2019•5 min
I think supporting independent game publishers, and I include self-publishers too here, by buying their games gives you a warm feeling. In many cases, your money goes directly to one or two people who you know by name, whose photos you've seen many times, whose newsletters you've read, who you followed on Twitter and who you've started to trust. If their game was published with the help of a crowdfunding platform, you will have lived through the journey of the game from its first public outing t...
Aug 27, 2019•6 min
I don't like word games. Even though I love writing, which is one of the reasons for this blog, I was never any good at crosswords or Scrabble, and it's not because English is my second language. Even when I do a German crossword or play German Scrabble, I'm still not very good, at least not compared to my parents or a couple of my friends who seem to excel at these. Yet, when I play Hardback by Fowers Games, I have a lot of fun and have a good chance of winning. Read the full article here: http...
Aug 24, 2019•5 min
I recently talked about how some of us need to let people know what we're up to, by regularly sharing updates with our followers - see my article Image matters. Now I want to drill into this a little deeper and discuss the various platforms you might want to use. My focus is on tabletop game reviews, as this is one of the things I do, but you can apply the same ideas to similar content. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/08/20/viewing-platforms/ https://tabletopgamesb...
Aug 20, 2019•6 min
As many of you will know, I absolutely love small box games, and mint tin games in particular (see episode 6 of the Tabletop Inquisition podcast). They're so easy to stash away and take with you anywhere, and Mint Works by Five24 Labs is a great example. The small mint tin is robust and can easily deal with knocks, it's quick to set up, as it consists basically of a deck of cards, and the tin itself functions as the pool for the mint worker tokens. The gameplay is also relatively quick, so overa...
Aug 17, 2019•4 min
Unless you're a very outgoing person or working in marketing, you will probably not want to boast about your achievements, or maybe not even see what you do as worth mentioning at all. In fact, you might hate the idea that everyone expects that you constantly post photos and write updates about every little thing that happens in your life. I can see where you're coming from, and there is nothing wrong with that, but if you're a game designer, publisher or a press person, you will need to try and...
Aug 13, 2019•7 min
I am making a slight diversion from my usual reviews and am looking at a book instead. However, it's The Board Game Book, so don't worry, we're still on topic. It's not the first book all about board games of course, but it certainly stands out, because it counts a number of professional writers among its contributors. So the quality of the writing is high, and the editing and production are also excellent - but let me start at the beginning. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog...
Aug 10, 2019•4 min
When you look at buying a modern tabletop game, you will have a rough idea as to how much you think it is worth - or you will have some sort of budget in your head that you want to stick to, and which guides you to the sort of games that you think you can afford. Your price expectations will be based on things such as the quantity and quality of the components, replayability and probably also rarity or hotness of a game. Yet, the amount of money you're willing to put on the counter doesn't alway...
Aug 06, 2019•6 min
Release Date: 2019 Players: 1-4 Designer: Scott Almes Length: 30-60 minutes Artist: Roland MacDonald, Benjamin Shulman Age: 10+ Publisher: Gamelyn Games Complexity: 2.5 / 5 In the year 3030, mankind has developed the technology to hold epic real-life battle events where daring fighters skilled in direct combat and with hundreds of hours of experience piloting the latest advancement in […] Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/08/03/tiny-epic-mechs-saturday-review/ Links ...
Aug 03, 2019•5 min
In a future where mankind has resolved to abandon war and replace it with virtual battles, teams of nine elite fighters selected by their nations face each other in pairs to win a precious new energy source that promises to bring the world back from the ashes. You have the opportunity to lead one of these teams out onto the 3 by 3 grid, where you take turns with your opponent and carefully occupy key positions in the hope that you win battle after battle to become a hero of the Vector Wars. Read...
Jul 27, 2019•5 min
Clans of Caledonia by Karma Games comes with a lot of wooden pieces, cardboard tokens, player boards and the modular game board. Fitting everything in the box, while keeping things organized, isn't easy. It's a very tight fit, if you separate all the different pieces into baggies or small plastic containers. However, the insert from Folded Space sorts everything neatly into separate boxes. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/07/06/clans-of-caledonia-insert-by-folded-sp...
Jul 06, 2019•4 min
