We all know how some games can take a while to set up. Sometimes it's because there are just a lot of components and different pieces to take out of the box and place on the table. Other times, it's because you have to sort components a certain way, after they were all mixed together in a previous play of the game. The opposite can also be true, where you have to shuffle tiles or cards, after they ended up all in order when you finished playing the game last time. In this article, I want to look...
Mar 29, 2022•7 min
My last board game convention was Airecon 2020 and it was the last event of its kind in the UK - and as it turned out, there wasn't going to be another in-person UK board game convention until 2021. It was a wonderful event, even though everything felt weird. Nobody was sure whether to shake hands or not. The special guests who had flown in from the USA weren't even sure if they would be able to get back home. Luckily, they did make it back safely and it wasn't long until the UK went into full l...
Mar 26, 2022•8 min
Co-operative games come in all shapes in sizes, just like any game. So there should be something there for anyone, irrespective of what you're looking for, as long as you want an experience where everyone works together to win the game as a team. In this article, I look at a handful of different types of co-operative games, giving examples of games that fit into the category, so that, hopefully, you can find something that suits you. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022...
Mar 22, 2022•7 min
Shuffle your deck of creature and vegetable cards, put the pile facedown on the table and spread the cards out, so everyone can reach them and after explaining a handful of rules, you're ready to play A game about quickly grabbing creatures that are totally different & counting your beetroots by Andrew Beardsley and Behrooz Shahriari from Stuff By Bez . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/03/19/a-game-about-quickly-grabbing-creatures-that-are-totally-different-count...
Mar 19, 2022•6 min
I don't know if you've ever come across it, but the final round, or sometimes the final few rounds, of a game often feel different to the rest of the game. There is the common term "end game" and the concept of an "end game trigger" in modern board games, so there is a relatively clear distinction between how a game finishes and the rest of the game. In this article, I want to discuss how games feel different as they come to their conclusion and what different types of "end game" formats there a...
Mar 15, 2022•7 min
The city-states of Venice, Florence and Genoa and their economy were doing extremely well. However, their military strength was extremely lacking not only in size, but also in experience and conviction. It was clear that strong soldiers with real battle experience were needed. So when the English soldiers returned from the Crusades, they were welcomed with open arms. Finally, the city-states would be able to extend their reach and influence, thanks to the wonderful Condottiere by Dominique Ehrha...
Mar 12, 2022•6 min
Hey there. It's Joe Slack from the Board Game Design Course . Oliver was kind enough to let me write a guest post on his blog about victory conditions other than victory points to spark some new ideas and get you thinking about other new games to play. I hope you enjoy this article! Victory points (VP) are so common in modern board games, along with the condition that the player at the end of the game with the most VP is declared the winner. Sometimes it is called influence, sometimes just point...
Mar 08, 2022•8 min
Sending someone a letter seems to have become a thing of the past and sending people postcards is mostly restricted to when you've gone away on holiday - but it's been ages since many of us have done that. However, many of us love sharing games with others, so it would be amazing if you could send someone a card that's also a game and even add a little message. Well, that's exactly what Six Greetings Card Games by Ellie Dix from The Dark Imp does. Read the full review here: https://tabletopgames...
Mar 05, 2022•6 min
Amelie Le-Roche is a veteran video game animator, creating games in her free time. She loves to explore different art styles and unique themes while creating family-friendly board games. She started Zerua Games in 2018 (which means "sky" in Basque) as a creative outlet. Read the audio transcript here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/03/02/amelie-le-roche-let-me-illustrate/ If you want to support this podcast financially, please check out the links below: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/table...
Mar 02, 2022•6 min
A large number of board games are about winning and losing. Sure, for many of us, it doesn't really matter whether we win or lose, as long as we have a good time, either with friends, family or alone. In co-operative games, you play against the game itself and either you win or the game does. The same goes for solo games, of course, which are basically co-operative games, but with a single player. In this article, I want to look at the different win and loss conditions you can find in co-operati...
Mar 01, 2022•6 min
It is the evening and everyone has gone home, but you. The library is dark and everything is quiet, when suddenly, out of the corner of your eyes, you think you can see a book opening all by itself in the horror aisle. As you turn to get a better look, you see Dracula standing there, with Bram Stoker 's book by his feet. You know exactly what to do, because this isn't the first time this has happened. You rush to the fiction section and pull out three particular books, whose heroines will surely...
Feb 26, 2022•9 min
Hi! My name is Lewis Shaw and I run Braincrack Games , a UK-based tabletop games publisher that's been bouncing around the scene since 2016. After my recent interview with Heavy Cardboard and a post on our own blog where I listed some of the reasons I don't think people should rush to start their own board game publishers, Oliver was kind enough to invite me to guest post on Tabletop Games Blog and talk more about the challenges the industry has thrown us in recent years - a brave choice, consid...
Feb 22, 2022•13 min
We were still trying to understand the special powers of the 8 elemental realms and how our dragon, wizard and warriors could take advantage of each and how we could impose our dominance over the other factions in this growing world. Each realm also had a giant monster that would wreak death and cause havoc amongst us, if we couldn't work out how to defeat it first or control it and steer it in our favour. We didn't have much time to build our Dwellings of Eldervale by Luke Laurie from Breaking ...
Feb 19, 2022•7 min
The idea that variability and replayability in board games have the same meaning is understandable, but of course, even though the two terms are related, they are independent of each other. Just because there is a lot of variability in a game doesn't mean that you'll want to play it over and over again and that it will feel different every time. Similarly, a game that is highly replayable, offering a different and interesting experience every time you play it, doesn't require it to be highly var...
Feb 15, 2022•7 min
It was quiet in the deep, dark wood. Everything was still and nothing stirred - but everyone was ready. The cats had taken up their position in every clearing, six birds were waiting patiently by their roost in one corner of the forest, the racoon had taken cover deep in the woods and the crows were biding their time in a handful of clearings of their choice. The moment was near. It was time to decide who was the best animal in the woodland, who was the Root by Cole Wehrle from Leder Games . Rea...
Feb 12, 2022•8 min
The longer you have been part of the board game hobby, the more you are used to various terminology and conventions. You will also have become more accustomed to the way rulebooks describe games and how to read them to get the most out of them. However, if you're still new to the hobby then some things may not be obvious. In this article, I want to look at some of these terms and conventions that won't be familiar to people new to our hobby and also touch on whether rulebooks should be expected ...
Feb 08, 2022•7 min
You were proud of your large library and your hard-working group of scribes was continually adding new tomes, with wonderfully decorative lettering and illustrations. However, you only had so much gold and the best scribes weren't cheap, but you had to somehow continue growing your collection of books to keep the bishop happy and outdo other abbots who were vying for influence. So you persevered and did what you could to have the most Biblios by Steve Finn from iello . Read the full review here:...
Feb 05, 2022•7 min
Albert Pinilla is an illustrator born in Barcelona. He is the co-creator and illustrator of the card game We Can Play: Women Who Changed The World and co-creator of the game publisher Julibert . He has also illustrated books such as The Interactive Constitution and Climate Change, the Choice Is Ours and has illustrated children's board games for companies such as Jumbo Disset , Goula , Nathan and Headu . Read the audio transcript here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/02/09/albert-pinilla-let-...
Feb 02, 2022•10 min
After setting up a board game and explaining the rules, if necessary, the next step usually is to decide who starts. Different games decide this differently, so in this article, I want to discuss the various ways in which board games choose the first player and I will also touch on games where the first player changes from round to round. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/02/01/i-go-first-topic-discussion/ Useful Links Turn order article: https://tabletopgamesblog.co...
Feb 01, 2022•6 min
Around sixty million years ago on Earth, dinosaurs reigned supreme on land, but at sea, a giant struggle was still unfolding. Creatures were slowly adapting to the changes in their watery habitat and hoping to be victors in this fight for survival. The threat of a giant meteor striking the Earth was increasing all the time, so it was a race to become the Dominant Species: Marine by Chad Jensen from GMT Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/01/29/dominant-species-m...
Jan 29, 2022•12 min
Sometimes I get asked to recommend games for someone to play. As you can imagine, that's never easy and my first question tends to be what other games they have already played. If they're completely new to the hobby, I usually ask how many people they intend to play with, whether they're a competitive group, how long they're happy to play for. It's also sometimes good to find out what sort of films, TV shows or activities they like, because many board games have a setting that might fit. So, in ...
Jan 25, 2022•8 min
Spice, the final frontier. These are the adventures of the Houses Atreides and Harkonnen and the Imperium their five-round mission to explore Arrakis , to seek out new territories and new Spice Blows , to boldly go where no Fremen has gone before. This is Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy by Bill Eberle , Jack Kittredge , Peter Olotka , Greg Olotka and Jack Reda from Gale Force Nine . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/01/22/dune-a-game-of-conquest-and-diplomacy-d...
Jan 22, 2022•8 min
I have mentioned it on this blog before, but my favourite way of being taught a new game is by diving right in. Teach me only the absolute minimum, just so I roughly know what sort of game we're playing and get an outline of what I'm trying to achieve and then let me start taking my turn. It's the sort of style of teaching that Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules advocates and it's probably the best option for demoing a game at a convention as well. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog....
Jan 18, 2022•7 min
Oh no! Wizard Pebbledash ’s assistants, Kevin and Annabelle , are missing! Of course, it is our task to find them and return them home safely. We are a motley crew of four daring adventurers of all shapes and sizes. Some of us have brave hearts, others have strong minds and there are some here who have a keen eye, but all of us are in high spirits and ready to face the dangers ahead of us. So off we go into the shadows of Hoodez Dungeon on our first CoraQuest by Cora and Dan Hughes . Read the fu...
Jan 15, 2022•8 min
I want to continue my series on how to teach board games to others by talking about how you can learn the game yourself or ask others to learn it for themselves. After all, you can't teach others until you know how to play it yourself and you're a better teacher if you've actually played the game yourself. Also, sometimes it's actually fun to learn a game and not always a big onus to expect others to learn a new game for themselves before you all meet up to play it. Read the full article here: h...
Jan 11, 2022•8 min
We had pulled off the heist of the century and everyone was still buzzing, pumped with adrenaline. We had made it safely back to our hideout and now it was time to divvy up the loot. We were about to count out cash, gold, gems, paintings and microfilms when the boss came up with a crazy idea. "Let's play Blackjack," they said, "and sort out who gets what that way." They even gave it a name. They called it The Split by Michael Fox from Wayfinder Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletop...
Jan 08, 2022•7 min
Let me start by wishing you a Happy New Year. We all somehow made it into 2022, probably a little worse for wear, but we made it nonetheless. The world has changed a lot, but there are still many moments of positivity and hope. I don't want to make predictions about what might happen to us all in the future, but instead, I want to focus on the Tabletop Games Blog and maybe talk about a couple of things that I hope for in our hobby. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2022/0...
Jan 04, 2022•8 min
It's the 11th of July in the year of our Lord 1899. At 10am Mountain Daylight Time, the Union Pacific Express departed Folsom in Union County, New Mexico as scheduled, but only a few minutes after leaving the village's last buildings behind, heavily armed bandits started robbing the 47 passengers, taking purses and jewellery. A short while later, gunshots could be heard and some of the bandits had climbed onto the roof of the train. It was feared that Marshal Samuel Ford, who was protecting the ...
Jan 01, 2022•7 min
Like probably everyone else does at the end of another calendar year, it's time for me to look back on 2021 and share with you what I've been up to. In fact, this year I want to share with you some more detail, so that you can see what is involved in doing what I do in the name of the Tabletop Games Blog . Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/12/28/2021-in-review-topic-discussion/ Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot ( https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/ ) If you want ...
Dec 28, 2021•8 min
Yes, it's the time of year again where I list the 5 board games that I think were the best in 2021. The games don't necessarily have to have been published this year, but as long as I have played them in 2021, they qualify to appear on this list. Of course, as is now custom on the Tabletop Games Blog, the #1 game will receive the exclusive and prestigious Top Table Award . I know you're already at the edge of your seat to find out who got the coveted trophy, but let me list the top 5 board games...
Dec 25, 2021•12 min
