Dog Poker is first in a series of animal poker games from Japan by Kaya Miyano. I bought both Dog Poker and Cat Poker when traveling, and only later realised I already own Cat Poker. Cat Poker is the original Japanese version of Panda Panda. Although named poker, neither game is similar to poker. Or maybe animals play poker differently.  In Dog Poker every card

The first pair of hands reached the table before the pattern card had settled. Nine cardboard cats were flipped, swapped and turned over in a frantic blur, followed by an excited slap that brought everything to a sudden halt. One tiny mistake was all it took for groans to turn into laughter before everyone eagerly reset their tiles for another attempt. Every new challenge promised to be straightforward, yet somehow each one encouraged just one more round of rearranging the Meow Tiles by Jean-Claude Pellin from Oink Games with art by Rie Takahashi.

The post Meow Tiles (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

Similo is a cooperative card game that is doing well. There are many different decks with different themes and characters. So far I have played three of them. In this game one player is the clue giver and the rest are guessers. A grid of 4x3 is laid out. One of these cards is a secret goal which only the clue giver knows. The clue giver needs to provide information to the rest

Snow muffled every footstep until the only sounds were distant birds and the steady crunch beneath our boots. The silence stretched in every direction: left to right, ahead and behind, as well as all the way up into the thermosphere. We were far away from anywhere. Yet, we knew we were safe. As the darkness settled all around us, we could finally see it: the Borealis: Arctic Expeditions by Dariusz Mindur from Lucky Duck Games with art by Rodrigo Camilo Alves De Almeida, Kevin Sidharta, Inês Toczyska and Ariadna Żytniewska.

The post Borealis: Arctic Expeditions (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

  Gambler x Gamble!! (two exclamation marks) is a game from Japan released in 2024. It is a reimplementation of a 2016 game called Gambler x Gamble! (one exclamation mark), which won the Group SNE Contest in 2015. We all know what it will be named when it gets a third edition, don't we? When I read the rules, the first thing that comes to mind is this is Machi

A small hand reaches into the tin, fingers excitedly hovering over the treats inside. The choice should be simple: take a biscuit, any biscuit. But no: two biscuits are better than one, and three better than two. Yet, if the little hand takes too long to make up its mind, the little burglar will be discovered. Well, it's time to Risk It For A Biscuit by Jessica Metheringham from Dissent Games.

The post Risk It For A Biscuit (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

You put down a bowl of soft food, and moments later, you hear the jingle of her collar. Here she comes! First, she pauses at the conservatory door and watches you for a while. You eagerly point at the wonderfully fresh food, enticing her to come in and eat. She turns away to look out into her domain, our back garden. Eventually, she strolls over - in her own time. Of course, whether she's ready for her lunch, when she eats, or indeed, where she eats, is all her own choice. As her pet dad, you just Take Cat by Gareth Edwards from Gibsons with art by Juliana Eigner.

The post Take Cat (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

The escape pod rattles violently as it tears through the atmosphere, before the noise suddenly fades away. A rough landing throws you against the restraints, leaving only silence until the hatch finally creaks open and fresh air rushes in with a long hiss. After you take off your helmet, you can smell unfamiliar scents. As you climb out of the pod, you can see a landscape unlike anything you have ever seen before. There are giant mountains that disappear into the clouds, strange plants that sway gently in the breeze, and countless mysteries that are waiting to be uncovered. You notice that you crashed high on a lonely hill, giving you a really good Vantage by Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier Games with art by Valentina Filic, Sören Meding and Emilien Rotival.

The post Vantage (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

The early morning mist hangs beneath a canopy of dark green waxy leaves, while distant calls echo through the jungle from animals who have lost their way. You're following their footprints until you eventually glimpse a tail disappearing into the undergrowth. Working together, you manage to rescue one animal after another, but the falling grains of sand remind you that time is against you. So off you go deeper into the Grab Bag: Jungle by Rob M Harper and Mike Harrison-Wood from Gibsons with art by Lauren Heywood-Law.

The post Grab Bag: Jungle (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

Boomerang: Australia works very much like 7 Wonders and Sushi Go. You start with a hand of cards. You pick one and pass the rest left. You keep doing this, and eventually all the cards will be claimed, and you score points based on your set of cards. This is a simple core mechanism. How the game differs from others is how the scoring works.  Every card has several

A little rabbit peeked cautiously over the edge of a vegetable patch, before it hopped inside and helped itself to a crunchy carrot. Soon, another rabbit joined in, nibbling happily on a radish, while a third disappeared behind broad broccoli leaves, and a fourth emerged triumphantly with an aubergine. Soon enough, mushrooms vanished as well, leaving only tiny paw prints behind. In less than a minute, the whole patch was filled with Rascally Rabbits by Ta-Te Wu from Sunrise Tornado Game Studio with art by TuziNeko.

The post Rascally Rabbits (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

The saloon doors suddenly burst open behind you as your boots skid across the dusty wooden boards of the sidewalk. A split-second later, gunfire cracks through the afternoon air, the bullet ricocheting off a pail of water, sending startled townsfolk diving for cover. Diving behind an old barrel offers you a moment of shelter, although the sound of heavy footsteps suggests your pursuer is closing in on you. Then, glass shatters somewhere near the jail, followed by the sharp whistle of a bullet passing far too close for comfort. A grin spreads across your face as you raise your revolver and prepare to return fire. Well, that's what you get when you arrive in Rattlesnake by Michael Hardacre from Osprey Games with art by Roland MacDonald.

The post Rattlesnake (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

Electric-blue leg warmers stretched over striped socks, sequins sparkling beneath a giant mirror ball, while clouds of hairspray drifted through the air. Synth-pop booms from oversized speakers as skaters practise one last spin, one last shuffle, one last gravity-defying move before the judges arrive. It's November 1983, and the biggest competition of the year is about to begin. Jam skaters from around the world have gathered beneath the glittering lights, hoping their best moves will earn them the championship crown. They want to become the next champion of the Roller Disco by Mike Petchey from Huff No More with art by Joss Petchey.

The post Roller Disco (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

Dewan in Malay means "hall", and the boardgame Dewan has nothing to do with any hall. It's just the name of the game world. But I'm stuck with thinking "what the hall" whenever I say the name of the game. Dewan is a clean civ game. I am tempted to call it 4X, but it doesn't have all four X's, just eXpand and a bit of eXploit. No eXplore or eXterminate. You start with a little settlement, and

Trishaw Frenzy is a Malaysian design. The designer is Ewe Boon How, and the publisher is LUMA. This is a game about trishaws in Penang. It is a simple game, and I'd even consider it a children's game.  One easy way to describe the game is modernised Snakes & Ladders. This is a roll-and-move game. The board is made up of nine tiles randomly placed and oriented. The squares

Katana Spirits is a light strategy game from Singaporean designer Geoffrey Chia. This game uses several characters also found in other titles from Good Spirit Games. Many of Geoffrey's games have a Japanese theme. Katana Spirits is a game about training yourself as a fighter and then going out kick some gangster butt. This is a game which uses polyomino tiles.  On your turn

The humidity clings to your skin as neon reflections shimmer across rain-slick streets. The city is strangely alive with quiet ambition and louder dreams. Towering skylines loom above bustling districts, each corner a promise of profit, each landmark a prize waiting to be claimed. Deals are struck with uneasy confidence, plans unfold behind knowing smiles, and every move carries the weight of opportunity. In this restless urban theatre, only the sharpest minds will rise above the crowd. Welcome to Singapore Showdown by Eugene Lim from Genie Games with art by Marcus Quek.

The post Singapore Showdown (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

You've been woken from hypersleep. You're still a bit groggy, but it is clear something has happened. Something important. As the captain, you can't waste too much time. You have to get up to speed quickly. As your crewmate gives you a sitrep, it becomes clear that you have to act quickly. It's time to Escape Comics: The Alien Ship by Douglas Beech and Evan Duxbury from Jumping High Five Games with art by Maria Becvar.

The post Escape Comics: The Alien Ship (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

A pair of mirrored birds lean towards one another, their colours bright, but soft. If you look closely, you can see that their bodies are forming a heart. Nearby, Kueh, delicate sweets, sit arranged with care. Judging by their colours and shapes, they promise wonderful flavours. Each one tells a story of ancient traditions and of the practised hands that shaped them. It is a quiet celebration of heritage and harmony, of the culture of Peranakan: Tiles and Tactics by Eugene Lim from Genie Games with art by Eugene Lim.

The post Peranakan: Tiles and Tactics (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.

Bargello designs are built from vertical stitches, laid in sequence so that colours rise and fall, creating flowing waves, shifting flames, or soft gradients that almost seem to move across the fabric. Used in ornate upholstery in 17th-century Italy and applied to chairs and other furniture, these patterns require precision and concentration. Even a single misplaced stitch will completely break the rhythm. As a highly-skilled embroiderer, it is up to you to make sure your needle is correctly Threaded: A Game of Needles and Points by Ellie Dix from Osprey Games with art by Maria Surducan.

The post Threaded: A Game of Needles and Points (Saturday Review) appeared first on Tabletop Games Blog.