I have previously looked at replayability in board games and I must admit, I still can't put my finger on why a game like Chess, which has no variability and no randomness, is so hugely replayable and remains interesting even after dozens of plays, while other games with variable setup, different factions and a large amount of chance are sometimes boring after only a handful of plays. So let me grapple with this topic in yet another article. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog....
Dec 05, 2023•10 min
There was all sorts of Xiaochi and other street food on offer, as well as a variety of speciality drinks. It was still rather quiet, but already the stall owners were busy. The streets were heavy with the scent of various herbs, spices and all sorts of wonderful flavours. As it was getting darker, more and more people found their way into the wonderful maze of this amazing Taiwan Night Market by Zong-Ger from Good Game Studio . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/12/02/...
Dec 02, 2023•10 min
I don't mind losing. In fact, when I play with my weekly game group, I usually lose. There are very few board games that I am confident that I will win or at least have a good chance of winning. However, there is something interesting I noticed recently. Irrespective of whether you're a sore loser or gracious winner, I think it is true that gameplay experience changes depending on the skill level of the other players. Playing the same game with people who are as good at a game as you just feels ...
Nov 28, 2023•7 min
There was a lot of yapping and barking, jumping and tail-wagging. Everyone was excited, but eventually, everyone settled down and lined up in a neat row. There were a few last-minute alterations, with dogs having to change spaces. However, when everyone was ready, it was time to choose the best dog, the winner of this Puppy Pile by Mike A Pratt from Thing 12 Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/11/25/puppy-pile-saturday-review/ Useful Links Puppy Pile : https://w...
Nov 25, 2023•6 min
It's clearly Bez month, because here is another article inspired by her. This time she wanted to know my thoughts on giving fair credit in games. So let me see if I can rise to the challenge. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/11/21/due-credit-how-to-credit-people-on-board-games-topic-discussion/ Useful Links Stuff by Bez : http://www.stuffbybez.com/ Kwanchai Moriya : https://www.kwanchaimoriya.com/ Roland MacDonald : https://rolandsrevenge.com/ Harald Lieske : https:...
Nov 21, 2023•8 min
It was either us or them. We were the only two teams on a planet far, far away, a planet that was crawling with bug-eyed monsters or BEMs as we had started to call them. My navigator moved around the directional grid to guide the vehicle across the planet's surface and allow the gunner to take aim at one of the weird inhabitants of this rock in space. We had to be careful though. We had to target the right BEMs to come out victorious in this fight to the end. It was all about who was going to be...
Nov 18, 2023•7 min
Here is another article inspired by the wonderful Bez from Stuff by Bez . She suggested I talk about the representation of bees. There wasn't any particular angle she wanted me to take, but the title alone gave me some inspiration. So in this article, I want to look at board games that feature bees in some way. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/11/14/the-representation-of-bees-the-latest-buzz-in-the-board-game-hobby-topic-discussion/ Useful Links Hive : https://www.g...
Nov 14, 2023•7 min
The house smelled of cinnamon, golden syrup and ginger. It was no surprise, because our oven was full of gingerbread rectangles on two trays. It wasn't long until they were done and needed to come out of the oven to cool down. We had small bowls full of sweets and a piping bag ready to decorate them. Suddenly, I had an idea. Rather than building a traditional house, we could instead make Gingerbread Towers by Jessica Metheringham from Dissent Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopga...
Nov 11, 2023•7 min
The genre of worker placement games is quite large and has evolved a lot over the years. Traditionally, worker placement was all about certain actions being unavailable to other players as soon as someone placed their worker there. At some point, games introduced shared worker place spots. Some games allowed players to kick workers out, returning them to another player who would effectively get another go. In this article, I want to look at the genre and pick out different implementations and va...
Nov 07, 2023•8 min
Using chopsticks isn't easy. A lot of people are uncomfortable with or have no experience using them. However, like so many things in life, it's all a matter of practice. So rather than embarrassing yourself in front of a restaurant full of people who seemingly have no problem picking up their food with two wooden sticks and transporting it to their mouths, you could just learn how to use them in the comfort of your own home with family or friends who might also want to master them. To answer th...
Nov 04, 2023•7 min
Time as a concept, is something we are very familiar with in our daily lives. Sometimes time goes quickly, at other times it seems to almost stand still. Time is also a concept that appears in board games. There is the play time, of course, but some games also use time directly as a mechanism. I want to look at how board games represent time and how they use the concept in different ways. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/31/about-time-time-as-a-mechanism-in-board...
Oct 31, 2023•9 min
Siberia: a vast area of over 13 million square kilometres, which consists of taiga, tundra and even temperate forests. From the north of this region, where temperatures regularly drop below -25°C, come reports of a massive meteor having crashed. Not only that, the team who went to investigate the impact crater lost contact and never returned. Rumours are spreading of a strange parasite that possesses all living things in the region. After a team sent to rescue the first group also fails to retur...
Oct 28, 2023•10 min
Hi, it’s Joe Slack here. Oliver was kind enough to let me write another guest blog and was excited to hear my thoughts as a game designer and indie publisher on why table presence matters for board games. So, let’s get into it. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/24/why-table-presence-matters-for-board-games-topic-discussion/ Useful Links Kickstarter : https://www.kickstarter.com/ Essen Spiel : https://www.spiel-essen.de/en/ Gen Con : https://www.gencon.com/ Origins...
Oct 24, 2023•7 min
It was inevitable. After decades of exploiting our home, Earth has finally run out of resources. It is time for Plan B . We have to leave and settle on a new planet. Potential targets have been selected and planeteers will be sent to develop them. Each of these adventurous heroes will be tasked with preserving the future of humanity and preparing one Planet Unknown by Ryan Lambert and Adam Rehberg from Adam's Apple Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/21/plane...
Oct 21, 2023•10 min
Jamey Stegmaier 's blog post " Is There a Future for Written Reviews? " inspired Adam Richards of Punchboard to write a little post on his Substack to discuss the visibility of the written word compared to video or audio content. That, in turn, inspired me to share my thoughts on the topic and as always, I invite your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this article. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/17/swords-vs-words-the-popularity-of-blogs-versus-other-me...
Oct 17, 2023•9 min
Off the coast of Queensland, Australia, in warm tropical waters, you can find the amazingly colourful Great Barrier Reef. It is home to over 40 different types of sea anemones, which are home to a lot of different kinds of sea life. Clownfish use sea anemones as shelter, taking advantage of their toxin-filled stingers as protection. Yet, while these two are friends, if you touch one as a human, the resulting painful stings can make them feel more like Enemy Anemone by Daniel Newman from New Mill...
Oct 14, 2023•7 min
Based on another suggestion from the wonderful Bez from Stuff by Bez , in this article, I want to look at the rise of so-called AI art. I want to describe what I mean when I talk about AI art, explain what I think it is not, despite people claiming otherwise and the creative potential of this new technology. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/10/ai-art-what-it-is-what-it-is-not-and-what-it-could-be-topic-discussion/ Useful Links Stuff by Bez : http://www.stuffbybez...
Oct 10, 2023•12 min
"I got candy!" comes the shout. Taken aback, you look across the counter and see the eager and very happy face of the youngster staring up at you. Another sugar-loving customer has come to your amazing sweet shop to pick and mix their favourite delights. Below the face, on outstretched arms, cradled in cupped hands are 16 Candies by Dickie Chapin from Envy Born Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/07/16-candies-saturday-review/ Useful Links 16 Candies : https:...
Oct 07, 2023•7 min
Based on a suggestion from the wonderful Bez from Stuff by Bez , I want to look at how designers can sometimes be known for specific styles of board games. That can be useful for people looking for certain types of games, but it also means that the designers can end up being pigeonholed, which can have a negative impact on their professional future in our hobby. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/10/03/designed-styles-pigeonholing-board-game-designers-topic-discussion...
Oct 03, 2023•8 min
To create the best apple brandy, you have to freeze fermented cider and remove the ice. It's quite simple and very effective in increasing the alcohol content of an already delicious drink. It's really easy to apply this to cider made after the autumn harvest. Just leave the casks in the winter cold and when enough ice has formed, pour the remaining liquid into another cask. Repeat the process as often as you please to concentrate the remaining liquid to levels of anywhere between 25% and 40% al...
Sep 30, 2023•9 min
I have attended quite a few different board game events in my time. I've been visiting conventions in Germany and the United Kingdom as a paying visitor, a member of the press as well as part of a demo team. From the more sedate and gaming-focussed AireCon to the crazily busy more business-focussed Essen Spiel and various exhibitions, shows, conventions or whatever you want to call them somewhere in between. So if you're planning to attend a board game event yourself and want to make the most of...
Sep 26, 2023•10 min
The system was slowing down. It was becoming noticeable. Booting up, opening applications and opening files was taking a lot longer. Even the memory swap was clearly not as fast as it used to be. The reason was simple: the file blocks were all over the place. The solution was just as simple: it was time to Defrag by Brandon McCool from Envy Born Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/09/23/defrag-saturday-review/ Useful Links Defrag : https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...
Sep 23, 2023•8 min
Inspired by an essay that Bez from Stuff by Bez published a few days ago on Board Game Geek , I thought I might also write about what board games mean to me. Unlike her, I'm not a designer. I'm a consumer of board games, often with a critical eye because I'm also a reviewer. So I'm coming at this from a different angle and of course, my experiences with and expectations of board games will be different to Bez 's. Anyway, I hope you find it interesting and as always, it would be great to hear you...
Sep 19, 2023•8 min
We were going to leave our Scandinavian homelands to search for fortunes in new shores far beyond the horizon. However, before we could set off, we had to load our boat with provisions, equipment and a daring crew. The problem was, that it was a rough, windy day and our longships were dangerously swaying on the swell. Getting everything safely stowed on board was going to be tricky. It was almost like we were on a Viking See-Saw by Reiner Knizia from Itten Games . Read the full review here: http...
Sep 16, 2023•7 min
I reckon most of us have heard about toxic behaviour in our hobby. Some of us will have experienced it directly. Many of us can probably name at least one bad actor who is still present in our community. There are also publishers who still work with these people, despite there having been public outrage about the person's behaviour or actions and the person not showing any remorse or accepting any responsibility. As a reviewer, my initial reaction is not to review games from those publishers, le...
Sep 12, 2023•8 min
It was the 5th century BCE and we, the Athenians, had been victorious over the Persians. The Delian League was now under our military control and the income generated by federation fees had made us prosperous. It was time for an ambitious building programme and the most talented architects in ancient Greece were ready. We were going to build housing, temples, markets, gardens and barracks. Our planning rules were going to create a harmonious community, enhanced by plazas. We would create new qua...
Sep 09, 2023•10 min
Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind long games. I happily play the same game for two to three hours, as long as it keeps me captivated. Even when a game requires a lot of focus and concentration, I usually have no problem sticking with it for a few hours. One of the ways in which a game can keep players invested is by reducing the amount of downtime, that is the time it takes for a turn to come back round to you. Something that helps in this respect is overlapping turns, which I want to look at...
Sep 05, 2023•8 min
The living room floor was a mess, sort of anyway. Everything was neatly arranged in a grid pattern, but there was no order to it whatsoever. Books were next to plants, which were next to games, which were next to frames all while some of our cats were tiptoeing around everything. All of it was only temporary though. I just wanted to get everything lined up, before returning it all to My Shelfie by Matthew Dunstan and Phil Walker-Harding from Lucky Duck Games . Read the full review here: https://...
Sep 02, 2023•8 min
The discussion about whether board game reviews should be paid for comes up regularly. Arguments can centre on the moral angle, come from a legal viewpoint or be purely personal opinions. More often than not, what is being debated is not well defined and the discourse starts to drift into different, seemingly opposing, directions. In this article, I want to try and untangle the topic and focus on maybe one or two specific areas. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2023/08/2...
Aug 29, 2023•11 min
Fungi have long been misclassified as plants. In reality, they are a whole kingdom of their own. What we call a mushroom is just a fungus's fruit that appears above ground, but a mushroom is just a tiny part of a fungus. It's their underground root system composed of dense masses of fine, thread-like filaments, called hyphae, that makes up the majority of a fungus. Yet, mushrooms are crucial in a fungus's propagation. Mushrooms send out spores, which are carried through the air to new locations....
Aug 26, 2023•11 min
