A review copy of Yokai Pagoda was kindly provided by Zatu Trade. Thoughts & opinions are my own. With so many card games to choose from, a new one has to do something pretty special to stand out from the crowd. While Yokai Pagoda might not blow your socks off with its originality or mechanisms, it’s a really good, highly competitive game which gets tighter and more enjoyable with every play.
A review copy of Decko was kindly provided by Gem Games. Thoughts & opinions are my own. If you’ve met anyone who’s played Decko and any amount of video games lately, it’s likely you’ve heard it described one way: “It’s like Balatro the board game”. While that’s not strictly true, Decko does manage to capture some of the feel of the absurd poker game, but with its own feel and approach. You’…
An early prototype of Ryugu was kindly provided by 14Games. All artwork and rules are subject to change. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Ryugu The Fleeting Paradise, to give it its full name, is a clean, colourful new worker-placement game from 14Games, the studio that brought us Snow Planner (read my review of that here). Following the trend of Japanese Euro games doing things slightly…
A review copy of Chicago & Northwestern was kindly provided by Rio Grande Games. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Ticket to Ride is too light, and 18xx games make my brain want to cry, so for me, Cube Rail games are where it’s at. Chicago & Northwestern from the person many consider to be the father of cube rails – John Bohrer – originally came out in 2016, then landed again in 2023 thanks to…
A review copy of Zenith was kindly provided by Hachette Boardgames UK. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Zenith is a tight, hugely enjoyable head-to-head duel that’ll have you trying to do all-too-many things at once. It’s an exercise in plate-spinning that I think most people will really enjoy and wish they’d tried sooner. VERDICT players 2-4 | playing time 25-35 mins…
A review copy of Last Week of Summer was kindly provided by Zatu Trade. Thoughts & opinions are my own. I have rose-tinted spectacles with inch-thick lenses when it comes to 1980s nostalgia, so when I had the opportunity to cover Last Week of Summer, I jumped at it. For me, it’s probably a little too light and disjointed, and I’ll get into that, but if you’ve got a group who like lighter…
My plays were all with a prototype copy of Excursions kindly provided by Kinson Key Games. All artwork, components, and rules are subject to change. 🚀 The Excursions Kickstarter Campaign goes live on October 6th 2026. You can find out more and back it by clicking here 🚀. Excursions does for Galactic Cruise (read my review of the original here) what Sanctuary (review here) did for Ark…
A review copy of Snow Planner was kindly provided by Hiroki Ishi. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Snow Planner’s success is because it keeps things plain and simple, not despite it. Once you dip your toes in the pool of Japanese Eurogames, you start to notice these things. Components are simpler. Boards are smaller. There’s very little bling to speak of. It’s the way European games used to be…
The nights are drawing in, shorts are condemned to the back of the drawer for another 9 months, and you’re teetering on the edge of turning the central heating back on. That’s right – it’s Autumn, or Fall for my transatlantic friends. Time to hunker down with warm, comfy things, and that includes games. The overuse of the word ‘cosy’ in the last few years drives me batty. Don’t get me wrong…
A review copy of Here Lies was kindly provided by Zatu Trade. Thoughts & opinions are my own. I went into Here Lies with no preconceptions and with barely any idea what the game was about, and came away both surprised and delighted. A cooperative game of deduction, sleuthing, and actually quite a lot of storytelling. Jasper, Jakob, and Bobby have created something a little bit special here…
A review copy of Greylune was kindly provided by Hachette Boardgames UK. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Greylune whisks the players away to a fantasy land inhabited by monsters, magic, and sheep. Action selection via a clever Dutch auction system sits atop a clever engine-builder whose diminutive stature belies a nuanced, tightly woven Euro game. There’s a lot to like about Greylune…
A copy of Salamandra was kindly provided by Hachette Boardgames UK. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Salamandra is a worker-placement game with a twist, and that twist is just the sort of thing that might make you take a second look if you’re feeling overrun with worker-placement games. The added change of workers being stuck in place once they’re on the board adds a new layer of planning…
A review copy of Kobayakawa was kindly provided by Hachette Boardgames UK. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Another colourful Oink game joins the gang. This time it’s an older game that’s been given a facelift. Jun Sasaki’s Kobayakawa has a simple premise: bet on a single hand of cards; high card wins. Doesn’t sound too exciting when you put it like that, but there are a couple of twists which…
2026 saw the third iteration of Roll The Dice Cornwall’s South West Cornwall Games Expo, and it was the best yet. The first time was at a small church hall in Helston. The second was in a bigger hall on the outskirts. This time it basically took over the old Cattle Market Building and Coronation Park. and it was brilliant. Hot sunshine, vendors selling anything and everything geek…
A review copy of Tally Up was kindly provided by Zatu Trade. Thoughts & opinions are my own. Tally Up may only be a few dice in a small tin with a simple set of rules, yet it delivers hilarity, shouting and a great time for everyone involved. VERDICT players 2-10 | playing time 10-430 mins Tally Up is everything a good party game should be. Loud, fast, cheap, and small.
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…
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.
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…
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.
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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