Reviews

Telepathy Review

I can distinctly remember the first time I played Mastermind. We were in Canada on vacation. My grandparents had rented a house for the summer,

Read More »
Reviews

Eminent Domain Review

More than any game I’ve played in recent memory, Eminent Domain truly feels like a game made for dedicated gamers. It’s not particularly complicated, it

Read More »
First Impression

Burning Rome First Impression

Burning Rome is a game I’ve had a very difficult time contextualizing. It comes in this saturated blood-red box with the subtitle “Rome’s Nightmare”. The

Read More »
Reviews

Carthage Review

Did you know that there’s a segment of the Gladiator film score that Hans Zimmer apparently turned into the main theme for Pirates of the

Read More »
Reviews

Pumpkin Patch: Bad Seeds Review

Late-stage prototype pictured below. Art is final; graphic design isn’t. Pumpkin Patch: Bad Seeds will be on Kickstarter in the first half of July. Pumpkin

Read More »
First Impression

Supertall First Impression

The Supertall Kickstarter is online until 6/30 Straight off their rousing success with Sprawlopolis, a genuinely great cooperative puzzle game, Button Shy is now kickstarting

Read More »
Reviews

Anxiety Review

Anxiety? It sucks. 0/10. Do not recommend. Oh, wait, I’m reviewing the game called Anxiety here. That’s a different story. I first heard of this

Read More »
Reviews

Onitama Review

I find that modern board gamers tend to have a strange relationship with the classic abstract strategy games. By nearly any measure both Chess and

Read More »
Reviews

Smoke and Mirrors Review

Avid readers may recall my somewhat controversial review for Hunt For The Ring, where I talked about the fine line deduction games walk between giving too

Read More »
Reviews

The Shipwreck Arcana Review

I was walking through the Expo Hall at PAX East when I saw it. A small package, but alluring, with its milky-white…exterior. Okay, I can’t

Read More »
Reviews

Tabletop Gaming Manual Review

I have one of those fuzzy childhood memories of visiting my grandparents house and finding what I think was some kind of children’s encyclopedia. It

Read More »
First Impression

Lisboa First Impression

Lisboa, Portuguese eurogame master Vital Lacerda’s newest design, is a visual and mechanical smorgasboard–a hodgepodge of player incentives, feedback loops, and iconography teetering on the

Read More »
Reviews

Captain Sonar Review SUBterfuge

The sales pitch for Captain Sonar is ridiculously compelling. A real time game about battling submarine crews? Sold. Who doesn’t want to play that? Submarine

Read More »
Reviews

Harvest Review

Once, in the Ancient Times of board games (about 10 years ago), from the exotic lands of Germany, a game called Agricola was made. It

Read More »
Reviews

Dominion Review Classic

This week at The Thoughtful Gamer we’re celebrating what I would say is unequivocally a modern classic in board gaming–Dominion. Below is my review of

Read More »
Reviews

Tokaido Review

I don’t like to take walks, much to the chagrin of my doctor, who tells me I should probably exercise, like, at all. Talk to

Read More »
Reviews

Star Realms Review

One of my biggest pet peeves in board gaming is the oversized box. Companies compete for prominence on limited shelf space by putting their games

Read More »
Reviews

Terra Review Minus The Mystica

There’s something I find very satisfying about trivia games. Maybe I just need to prove to myself that the random scraps of knowledge I’ve accumulated

Read More »