Very few games fall into a gray area for me, but Tales of the Arabian Nights does. It's easily one of the most random games I've played, and it often makes no sense at all. Still, it's given me some of my most memorable gaming moments, especially when my friends and I end up laughing at the absurd stories, like getting rewarded for beating up beggars.

​With so many old games coming back after years out of print, it's not surprising that Tales of the Arabian Nights is returning with a 40th Anniversary Edition. It's a clear sign that we're all getting older.

A New Genie in Town

​But this isn't just a basic reprint, a phrase that gets slapped on far too many of these revivals. Now there's a solo mode, some status cards have been changed or removed, and getting thrown in prison is no longer a death sentence. Many of the passages have been rewritten, though they still hold on to the harsh themes the original Arabian stories were built.

​Even with the updates, the main gameplay is still about earning destiny and story points by exploring, finding encounters, and interacting with them. City cards give you some direction by offering bonuses if you visit them, and…

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Gods' Will showed up in my social media feed, comparing itself to Resistance: Avalon like a new kid on the first day of school telling everyone he used to be popular somewhere else. I have heard this pitch. I have reviewed this pitch twice, from Witch Hunt and Human Punishment, two games that made the same promises and delivered the same disappointing results. So when Gods' Will came knocking with the same marketing aura, I had to open the door with at least one eyebrow raised. Maybe I’m just addicted to disappointment, who knows.

After half a dozen plays, I can say with a bit of confidence that Gods' Will is doing more right than wrong here. More importantly, it earns it by fixing the real problems with its predecessors rather than just the ones that look good in a Kickstarter pitch.

A Skeptic Walks Into a Kickstarter

Like 90% of social deduction games that have ever existed, there are two teams: Light and Dark. There is also a loner faction, a third party whose goals shift depending on player count and whose presence ensures that the ride from start to finish won’t ever be a smooth one. Every player is a God with a public special ability…

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Hidden movement games occupy a strange corner of the tabletop world. Compared to juggernauts like deckbuilding, worker placement, and engine building, the genre feels like it has been locked in the crypt, occasionally rattling the door to remind everyone it still exists.

Nuns on the Run is a perfect example of that. Originally released in 2010, the game flipped the typical hidden movement structure on its head. Instead of many players hunting one, a single player searches for several invisible ones. Throw in a genuinely charming religious theme that somehow manages to poke fun without punching down, and you have something worth paying attention to.

The Lord’s Work This is Not

Our story starts with life in the abbey not going quite as planned. Most players are novice nuns who have very clearly not yet grasped what life in the cloth actually demands of them. Locked away somewhere in the abbey is a relic of their former life: a love letter, a bottle of booze, a box of cookies. The goal is simple: sneak out of bed, grab the key, retrieve their precious contraband, and make it back before anyone notices they are gone.

Standing between the novices and their contraband are the two nun pieces, both controlled by…

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Diplomacy.

That's a word with power. The art of diplomacy has shaped the course of human history more than any army ever could. Wars have been avoided and empires preserved or dismantled entirely through the right conversation at the right moment. It is the oldest game humanity has ever played, so it makes sense that someone turned it into a board game.

Turning back to 1959, a certain Allan Calhamer designed Diplomacy. A game that spotlights the messy, treacherous, and deeply human act of negotiation. Dice were not welcome here. Players wrote down their orders in secret after tense talks with their opponents, and the table rarely survived intact. It resonated with many people, including John F. Kennedy, which tells you everything you need to know about what kind of game this is.

Despite its importance, Diplomacy was never destined to be a household name. People are aware of it the way they are aware of chess, with a vague sense that it is serious and probably not for them. It sits in a niche within an already niche industry, respected by the people who know it and largely ignored by everyone else.

JFK Would Need to Relearn This One 

Then Renegade Game Studios announced a card game spinoff.…

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I have a secret to tell you. I like Monopoly Deal. Not love, not champion, just like. In the crowded basement of casual card games, it earns its keep. Put it this way, given the choice between Monopoly Deal, Exploding Kittens, and UNO, Deal is getting picked every time.

Yet there is a trend quietly taking over the casual card game space where publishers are releasing meaner, nastier versions of their existing games. UNO Show 'Em No Mercy, Flip 7 with a Vengeance, and now Monopoly No Mercy are all cut from the same cloth. More take-that and suffering for the people sitting across from you. Where this trend is coming from, I genuinely have no idea.

Cruel Details

The goal hasn't changed from the original. Collect three complete property sets, build your own portfolio while raiding everyone else's, and be the first to get there. What has changed is the action cards, some of which would qualify as war crimes in certain jurisdictions, and the addition of debt chips.

Debt chips are the most radical departure from the original formula. Money flows in and out fast in Monopoly No Mercy, and there will be moments where you simply cannot cover what you owe. That is…

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