Houdini’s Last Act feels like a magic trick. And not only because designers Chris Zinsli and Suzanne Zinsli (no relation) (okay, maybe there’s some relation, but it’s rude to assume) provide an actual card-shuffling trick as an intermission.

Set during the final years of the escapist’s life, the game’s apprentices — of which there must always be precisely four — are here to assist Houdini in exposing various spirit mediums as frauds and hucksters. It’s a noble objective, protecting the bereaved from those who would take advantage of them. But it’s also a testy proposition, one liable to end in disaster. Thus the game’s core tension: Will you work toward the show’s success? Or look after your own self-interest?

Preparing for the final show.

As a plaything, Houdini’s Last Act is tightly wound. There are two discrete acts, divided by the aforementioned magic trick, and it’s necessary to see them in motion to really understand what sleight of hand the Zinslis are getting up to. In other words, this is one magic act it pays to see twice. Which is no big thing, considering the entire game takes maybe half an hour to complete.

First come the preparations. Going around the table, everybody spends cards to get ready for the big show. There’s more to do than can all be handled at once, ranging from overseeing the show’s security and promoting it via pamphlets and airwaves to preparing yourself by mastering various magical techniques.

What’s interesting about the game is that each of these preparations is spring-loaded in its own way. Promoting the show, for instance, sees you claiming a private token that reveals whether the local public is on your side or feeling antagonistic. Positive numbers mean your show is more likely to succeed, while negative digits might mean… well, the other thing.

Just some of the frauds you might expose.

From there, the cards are (magically) shuffled and dealt back to the apprentices. Now it’s showtime. There’s still time for a few last-minute preparations, but for the most part this phase of the game is an icon-matching affair where you attempt to demonstrate the techniques the local mediums are using to defraud the public. It’s useful to cooperative tightly with your fellow apprentices. As with a death-defying escape act, any number of details might go wrong and spell disaster for the entire act.

It isn’t really until the final tally that the game’s legerdemain becomes apparent. Which is, incidentally, why I recommend any prospective players give it two tries back to back.

The first question is whether the show succeeds or fails. This is a mathematical question, the one portion of the game that feels more like bookkeeping than a careful balancing act. Provided all the mediums have been defrocked, there’s still the question of the event’s security — which sets the baseline score your team is required to beat — versus the product of those defeated mediums times the show’s publicity.

Look, the details don’t matter. The point is that you multiply one number against another, then check that result against a third number. If the show was a success, everybody wins. Otherwise, everyone reveals a personal goal card. And now the real chicanery is afoot.

Every card can be used in multiple ways.

At heart, Houdini’s Last Act is a game about confidence. The confidence of its masters and apprentices and mediums, but also the confidence of its players, in themselves and one another. Because all those actions, the earlier ones in the preparation phase as well as those taken during the show itself, are slow-motion bets that your work will pay off. And depending on what you saw earlier, if you happened to publicize the event and saw which way the winds were blowing, or even if you just don’t think your crew can handle quite so much debunking in one sitting, your confidence might not be overflowing.

That’s where your personal objectives come in. If the show fails, the game switches tracks and checks the goals you’ve been tending this whole time. Maybe you want to expose a particularly skilled medium personally, ensuring your own legacy on the stage. Or maybe you’re more cynical, angling for the show to fail spectacularly. Either way, apprentices who aren’t feeling especially good about the tour’s odds can claim additional goal cards. But this is a dangerous proposition, threatening to sow discord. Wait, why did you draw another goal? Do you know something I don’t? Are we a team or what?

Even small doubts can have a corrosive effect. All it takes is one draw at the wrong time and suddenly everyone is thinking twice about overseeing security or learning stage techniques. Instead, they’re checking their little green objective cards and making weird decisions. Like insisting that we debunk more mediums than we can strictly handle, or getting flustered when somebody else claims the wire-work mastery token, or drawing two new goals in a row.

Some of the things you might know… and keep to yourself.

To be clear, Houdini’s Last Act never becomes more than a bite-sized experience. Even played twice in a row, it probably won’t consume a full hour. There are certain limitations to what can be accomplished in such a short span of time. Sometimes a longer duration is a boon. When it comes to ambiguous behaviors on the part of fellow players, a game this short doesn’t provide much room to observe whether people are acting squirrelly.

But the magic trick is that it doesn’t matter, at least not as much as it might have otherwise. Houdini’s Last Act works because it’s charming in all the right places. The way the sleeves are designed to let the cards slide one way or the other to reveal hidden information. The cardplay, which is simple but never shows even the slightest pound of extra weight. Putting on a successful show is genuinely challenging, enough so that pursuing a side hustle or two seems wise. Even the little magic trick in between acts is amusing, a ritual that takes so little time that you might as well go through the motions rather than dealing out the cards normally.

The result is a game that punches well above its weight. Not unlike the little escapist himself, come to think of it. For such a small thing, there’s some real verve here, a commentary on magic as showmanship and mystery versus hucksterism and superstition, about personal goals versus collaborative efforts, about we silly humans who love to be tricked so badly that we grow addicted to it.

Improving your skills means revealing extra icons on your cards.

Which is, perhaps, the final flourish of this particular offering. Like all figures from history, Harry Houdini had his textures. But he also stuck by his principles, especially where it came to debunking those who took advantage of the bereaved. He sacrificed friendships over it — most famously with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, that faerie-believing dork. As an offbeat and enjoyable expression of history, Houdini’s Last Act is a suitable tribute indeed, a brief foray into a world where magic and reason brushed shoulders and left audiences entertained.

A complimentary copy of Houdini’s Last Act was provided by the designers.

(If what I’m doing at Space-Biff! is valuable to you in some way, please consider dropping by my Patreon campaign or Ko-fi. Right now, supporters can read the next installment in my series Talking About Games, this time tackling the topic of what makes a good list! Naturally, the piece includes a list.)

I tried the demo for this somewhat cozy game a few days ago, and decided to buy it.

This is a deck builder where each card has 1 or more glyphs, and possibly a special ability. You are basically a god/explorer founding villages. When you pick a location it contains two regions (plains, swamps, buildings, etc) that determine what combination of glyphs are worth things, and you then draw a hand, use the abilities/glyphs to fill the puzzle, then get a second hand and that’s it.

(The puzzles are basically decision trees. You can unlock A or B or C, and A may have A1 or A2, etc. Taking A precludes B/C).

There’s just enough choice to be interesting … since you can use each card for one glyph (possibly of 2 or more) OR its special ability, and you don’t know all the cards you are going to draw (since you get one redraw, but must discard unused). Since starting one path precludes others, it’s a risk/reward.

But “cozy” … no time pressure, very low key.

Honestly, I didn’t really buy it for the gameplay, although its fine. The game also has classical Japanese Art (and descriptions, history lessons on the art, hi-res versions, etc) and some Japanese Language Practice (which is optional and probably not even very helpful compared to real lessons, but I liked that and I hate taking real lessons). Because of that, I figured I could pay $10 which — let’s be frank — isn’t much.

If I were paying attention I’d learn that “Oh, this terrain gives the same decision tree every time and my deck is good for that,” but I don’t really care enough to put that much effort into it. I’m just exploring it for the aesthetics, mostly.

Rating — A fine cozy game, but honestly indifferent. I suppose if I approached it as a real strategy game I’d probably move my rating one way or the other. I’ll likely play 10 hours, maybe more, but probably not 25+.

by Mín

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Dungeon Delve for One, Please

On lazy Sundays, I quite enjoy breaking out a solo game and throwing on some old records. No group bickering over game choice, no fear of another player’s analysis paralysis, just me, myself, and a deck of cards. There’s a particular joy in quieting down and figuring out a game by yourself, and Puzzle Dungeon is an ideal mix of dungeon delving and puzzle solving to keep those silent thoughts busy.

I was fortunate enough to experience the deluxe edition of the game, which comes with an overwhelming amount of heroes and baddies alike. It’s a smorgasbord of characters packed into this monster-hunting card game, so any characters mentioned here may not be present in the base game!

Puzzle Play

Puzzle Dungeon is a straightforward, solo-only hand management game that challenges players to defeat the required number and types of monsters listed on their hero’s card before their deck runs out. The monster deck is made up of five different monster types, randomly shuffled into four columns and laid out into ordered lines.

To defeat the frontmost monster in a column, players must discard cards with symbols matching that monster. These cards can be…

The post Puzzle Dungeon Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

At a time when many people feel democratic culture is under strain, it is worth looking at our own everyday behaviours that allow democracy to function. Elections, laws and political institutions are all important, but democracy also depends on how people treat one another every day. Listening to different opinions, accepting compromise, respecting agreed-upon rules and recognising opponents as people rather than enemies are all part of a healthy democracy. Maybe unsurprisingly, board games are a place to look for those values. I mean, the simple act of sitting down together to play a game, following the same rules and taking on a role, is an opportunity to act out democratic values.

The post Tabletop Democracy – what board games can teach us about democracy (Topic Discussion) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

You'll be blue if you eschew this new crew review. Also, corkscrew.

Continue reading on Board Game Beat

The morning dawned early and I was up and ready to go by 8:30am. I had a muffin in my room and a trusty diet Mountain Dew for breakfast and we were on our way to the Winterberry Room to get going on our continued game of GTS.

We jumped right back into GTS Where Eagles Dare and The Devil’s Cauldron from MMP. I was assigned to command the area around Eindhoven/Best/Son and to eliminate the few pockets of German resistance remaining there and then move our armor north to cut off possible German reinforcements from the east. We jumped back in at the 1100 turn and played into the 1700 turn although I had to leave shortly after lunch to meet up with Gregory M. Smith. This system is just so solid and is really great fun.

And I also very much enjoy the deep historical immersion into the event and its incorporation of things like heroes and artillery parks as well as the gorgeous production values with amazing counters, a very detailed and beautiful board and the way it portrays company-level combat. I will say that there is a fairly steep learning curve and rules overhead and while I feel the combat system works it is very involved and bits can be forgotten. But it really is a solid operational level portrayal of WWII combat. I very much can’t wait to play it again in the future and we actually have the reprint of The Devil’s Cauldron on pre-order and I have heard it might be out by the end of the year. I need to find me a copy of Where Eagles Dare as well although I most likely will never get the full combined games together on the table at the same time.

After 14 hours of pushing counters, I am now a follower of this system and want to thank Joe and Matt, as well as my friend Mike Heckman, for teaching me.

After lunch I found my friend John Sy from the Philippines and said hello but he had a gift he had brought for me. It was Japanese occupation currency in the form of Philippine pesos from WWII. What a very cool and thoughtful gift and upon my return home I will be placing it in a frame and hanging it in my game room. Thanks John!

I then was able to meet up with my friend and fantastic designer Gregory M. Smith as well as Kevin McPartland to get a look at a few games that they are designing together, including Viking Dawn from Compass Games and Star Spangled Tide: The War of 1812 from Compass Games.

We first got a play in of Viking Dawn and had a great time with the game. It is a light, beer and pretzels style game based on the SPI Conquistadors designed by Richard Berg where players control 1 of 4 Viking clans and are trying to build longboats, train war bands, develop explorers and lead them to explore, settle, raid and conquer Europe from Russia in the east, to Iceland and Newfoundland in the west, the Mediterranean and parts of North Africa. When leaders die you must bury them with silver gaining VP’s or if you can’t afford it bury them with nothing and lose VP’s. The main mechanic is a press your luck exploration mechanic where you must roll for the destruction of your fleets based upon how far they have traveled that year. You might lose all of your ships or may get lucky and lose none, you can mitigate this be investing in the journeys with additional supplies and tech to ensure better offs but the dice are cruel and you might just lose not only your fleets but also the booty they have collected from raiding.

It’s a very fun and lite take on this chaotic time in history and I very much enjoyed it. The game is nearly complete and should be printing and ready for shipping in early 2027. I think that this one is a perfect convention game and is sure to see more plays on my table.

We then shot a video with both designers together and then broke off with just Greg to talk about 6 of his other in-design projects. These included the following Korean Tide (next entry in the Tide Series covering the Korean War 1940-1953), Rifle Platoon (tactical level squad based solitaire game using the American Tank Ace Series), Project Z (what if bombing game where Japan won at Midway and began to run bombing operations against the United States mainland and Australia similar to Amerika Bomber), Western Desert Ace (solitaire Ace Series game focused in North Africa), B-52D Linebacker II (solitaire Vietnam War bombing game in 1972) and then finally a scoop on a joint design from Kevin McPartland and Greg Smith called Star Spangled Tide. It was a great discussion and I’m very much looking forward to all of these games.

To end the video, Greg spoiled his upcoming Lone Banner game which is a 1-4 player dungeon crawler set in the fantasy world of Kalar from Burning Banners from Compass Games. This one is going to be fun and I got a look at the characters, spells and weapons and also saw the dungeon tiles that will be laid out as players move through the dungeon encountering traps, monsters and bosses to fight. This looks great but it is a ways off as Greg said he has only been designing it for a month or so.

I then got to play the new The Great Hunger from Compass Games with designer Kevin McPartland. In The Great Hunger players represent families of tenant farmers and field hands. At first, when the potatoes are plentiful your clan will grow, using the events on the top half of cards to help your family expand across the map moving into counties, working on estates and in factories. When the potatoes blight arrives, you’ll use the events on the bottom half to save as many as you can, finding them aid or employment in Ireland, or scrambling to ports to secure passage to America. 

The game is a very light Euro style game of survival and is well done as it’s rooted in history and teaches about the struggles of the Irish. I am glad to have played the final production copy as I got to play a prototype copy a few years ago at WBC. This one will catch some heat from people for it’s dark topic and will just not be for everyone but it has something to teach about history and I have Irish ancestry and am interested as to what happened to cause my ancestors to leave their home to come to America.

One final thing I want to show you is the lineup of games that GMT has staged in the main gaming area. These are all of their newest arrivals and they are just gorgeous. I’m most interested in Coast Watchers designed by Volko Ruhnke and The Weimar Republic designed by Gunnar Holmbäck.

That was it for Day 3 and I’m off to bed with an early start tomorrow with a few games on the docket including World Order from Hegemonic Games Project and Coalitions: Realpolitik from PHALANX.

See you tomorrow night!

-Grant