A review copy of Inkwell was kindly provided by Zatu Trade. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Inkwell is one of those games that makes you want to touch it. The soft closing of the magnetic clasp on the box. The cloth playmat. The satisfying heft of the little golden cubes. It’s a lovely thing. As far as draft and set-collection games go, it’s pretty decent. There’s a lot here to like…

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A prototype copy of Eternal Sevens was kindly provided by Tricktakers Games. Thoughts and opinions are my own. How to buy: If you’re trying to buy a copy of Eternal Sevens, click here for information about ordering a copy. When your breakthrough hit is something like Eternal Decks, you have to do something special to follow it. In Eternal Sevens, Hiroken has managed to do just that.

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A review copy of Vantage was kindly provided by Stonemaier Games. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Vantage landed last year with a lot of hype behind it. Jamey Stegmaier’s baby, years in incubation, landed on tables with a heavy thump as grateful storks departed. The premise is huge. Vast even. Remarkably, Vantage manages to deliver on many of its lofty goals, but I think there’s a lot of…

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The latest in my Play Something Old series is one of my favourite games – Citadels. Citadels paved the way for a slew of games that take its core concepts and build on them It’s a game of set collection, hidden roles, drafting, bluffing and a delicious amount of take-that. I think that everyone should have a copy of Citadels in their collection, so let me justify that.

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A review copy was kindly provided by Zatu Distribution. Thoughts & opinions are my own. A Carnivore Did It! is best described as a box full of logic problems. If you grew up with the Labyrinth movie with its ‘guards on the door’ puzzle, or more recently the video game Blue Price with its chest-opening puzzles, then you know what to expect. A process of elimination, done against the clock.

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Ringyo (Ringyō / 林業) is a game about forestry in Edo-period Japan. Well, kinda. It’s more accurate to say that it’s a game where you’re a Daimyo in Japan overseeing a province covered in trees and floodwaters. I can honestly say that I can’t point at another game and say “Ah, that’s just like Ringyo”, because there are a lot of things Ringyo does that feel fresh and different. It’s a heavier game…

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A review copy of Joraku Deluxe was kindly provided by Moaideas. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Joraku takes the threads of a traditional trick-taking system and combines them with area control and action selection to weave a tight, intricate fabric. Joraku didn’t make waves when it first arrived and was desperately difficult to get hold of. It’s well worth tracking down a copy though…

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Maybe you’re quite new to board and card games and have heard people talking about trick-taking games. Maybe you’ve been into the hobby for ages and don’t know anything about trick-taking, but you’re too scared to ask at this point. Either way, I’ve got you covered. In the context of card games, a trick is usually a round of play in a card game. Most commonly in trick-taking games…

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I’m doing things differently here for this one. For years now, I’ve had a rule that I don’t write reviews or previews based on digital playthroughs on platforms like Tabletop Simulator (TTS). For me, the physical experience of the game, the legibility of cards and iconography over the top of a table, and other things simply cannot be replicated over a screen. However, my good friend Marton…

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