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Normale Ansicht

Quick Peaks – Canvas, Pirate King!, dnup, Tea Witches, Flock!

Canvas - K. David Ladage

My colleague, Bob Pazehoski, wrote a review of Canvas back at the start of 2023. His assessment was that the game was midline: not bad, not great, just sort of there (3 stars). My friend Steve came up over a weekend and introduced it to my wife and I. We both thought it was gorgeous, fun, and engaging. If you want a good overview of the mechanics, please read Mr. Pazehoski’s review. But check it out for yourself! 

The table presence of the updated board from one of the expansions is amazing (sorry, this was Steve’s copy and I do not know which expansion did what to this game). The added depth of the Signature Style cards (also added in an expansion) is amazing, while not increasing the game’s difficulty. And the mechanics of creating the perfect painting are exquisite.

In the games we played, all of us would spend time reminding ourselves that the paint swatches at the bottom of each card were the game element, not the beautiful painting elements. I had to force myself to put in a piece of art which scored more points, but which did not meet my own aesthetics a couple of times. In the end, all of my paintings,…

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Thrift Store Finds: Overturn

As someone who frequently goes to thrift stores, I’ve seen some games so many times they barely register in my mind. I’m referring to games like, The Game of Life, Battleship, and multiple editions of Trivial Pursuit. Occasionally, this board game treasure hunting uncovers a game I’ve never heard of that is both complete and sounds interesting. This series is about those rare finds, the ones that interested me enough to risk a few dollars on and have made their way to the gaming table. Have I found an overlooked gem? Or was one person’s junk now my junk? Read on to join in the hunt!

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A few years ago, while scanning the game shelves of one of my favorite local thrift stores, I found a side panel to a box that reminded me of Othello. Same black base color, same font. Turns out both games are by the same publisher, Pressman, and the similarity was intentional.

Playing the Game

You play Overturn on a raised black frame featuring 18 white square tiles, each with 9 letters printed in green on raised…

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Tom and Jennifer attend QuestCon 2026 

Tom Franklin

Over the June 5-6 weekend, QuestCon 2026 took place just outside of Raleigh, NC, about four miles from my house. Honestly, I didn’t realize there were that many board gamers in my area. I knew statistically there must be some, but enough to put on a game-playing convention? Nah.

[caption id="attachment_331942" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Roomful of Garner-area gamers. Apparently, I was wrong.[/caption]

I’ve been playing board games with the same group of friends for over 15 years. As a result, I haven’t looked elsewhere to find if there were other gamers in the area for a long time. Years ago, I checked out MeetUp, but going to a stranger’s house to play a game that might interest me (or at least didn’t involve dice) didn’t feel worth the time.

Turns out, over the years, that MeetUp group has been building. Meeting two Friday evenings a month, they claim to be the largest board game MeetUp group in North Carolina. They’ve been running a weekend gaming convention for the past few years that I had never heard of. Meeple Mountain’s founder, editor-in-chief, and all-around nice guy, Andy Matthews, sent me a message ‌from Nashville, telling me about a convention right in my metaphorical backyard.

When I arrived, I met my new…

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