I’ve played Spades more than any other game the past two years. It’s become our go-to game on those nights when we’re too exhausted to
Martin Wallace’s Anno 1800 is an odd duck. It shouldn’t work. I’m not yet convinced it does. It’s the sort of thing one would make
It’s all about the rope. Shobu looks and plays like a game that’s been around for centuries. The genre trappings—black and white pieces, square grids,
After a recent game of Through the Ages, a friend to whom I had just introduced the game remarked that, “you have to do everything,
I had two EXIT games sitting in my basement and I didn’t even know it. Once you have a large enough board game collection I
The first time you play Babylonia you’ll probably play poorly. Fair warning. I’ve taught this game to at least 4 groups of people and no
The games made by Prospero Hall/Funko have a distinct visual style. I’m not an expert on art or graphic design, but they look cleaner and
I enjoy puzzle games but I often feel a bit out of my element when I try to review them. Puzzles are, in some sense,
Spoiler warning: I’ll try to not reveal particulars but this is technically a campaign game with sealed material so fair warning. I want to recommend
I’ve got a copy of Unbroken and I’m not sure what to do about it. I received it from another game reviewer a while back.
Codenames Duet is more than simply a 2-player version of the most popular party game of the last few years. It’s transformed, different, and compelling
For those reading this in the distant future: Wordle is all the rage right now. Maybe it’s still the bee’s knees in your time too,
Remember when deckbuilding was new and fresh? In those times of old it seemed like every single new release was messing around with the system.
At one of my first gaming conventions I attended a discussion about game design. There, I first heard about the double/halve rule. So many people
Sometimes I think if Vlaada Chvatil was a new designer today he would have a terrible time trying to get his games published. The board
I think cyberpunk works so well in the medium of games because it depicts a gamified society. People can cybernetically enhance their skills and abilities.
Imagine an area control game where you and one opponent are fighting over control of one space. On each turn you roll a die and
Deduction is rigid, which makes it difficult to incorporate into board games, which thrive best in the rivers of uncertainty and doubt. If a deduction
Going scuba diving was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. It’s at once impossibly serene, a blanket of subaqueous white noise and
Nidavellir assembles together a number of tried and true mechanisms with such a sure hand that I didn’t realize until my second play how completely
Bat Flip will be available on kickstarter on the 18th You’d think there would be more sports board games, with both sports and board games
Amabel Holland’s The Field of the Cloth of Gold is a game of extreme passive aggressiveness. With a smile and a wink it puts players
I can explain a lot of the emotions that board games give me. Tension and release; the satisfaction of solving a difficult puzzle; the greedy
Ted Alspach’s Suburbia combines two simple pleasures, drafting and tile-placement, as well as any game ever made. Like an ice cream parlor displaying its sweet
Honestly, I’m split. Now that the paleontological scholarship has shifted towards dinosaurs being feathery and perhaps occasionally brightly colored, I can appreciate the appeal of
Stefan Feld’s Carpe Diem is so clearly riffing on many of the same ideas in his masterpiece The Castles of Burgundy that I can’t help
Dice Command, the small box WWII game debut from Ejected Planet, caused me to reflect on the expression that “war is the continuation of policy
Adapting an outside property into board game form is simple. I mean, it’s not. But it also is. Bear with me here. Board games, insofar
Union Station is on kickstarter now. Travis D. Hill’s Union Station is admirable in its transparency. It doesn’t disguise itself with excess; it’s confident in
The Alpha is the kind of game you pull out at the end of the night, when your capability to play something more complex has
The legacy game, as a concept, is 10 years old and My City is the first one I’ve seen that’s wholly, unabashedly humble. After Pandemic
How did they ever make a board game about fishing? It’s a terrible fit. Fishing is random and fickle and sometimes you spend an entire
When you’ve played over a hundred midweight eurogames how do you get excited about them anymore? When you’re faced with a game that once again
Top Pop will be on Kickstarter July 13th. Photos are from a pre-production prototype. Art isn’t final, etc. etc. There’s a boundary surrounding every game,
The Soul Raiders kickstarter is launching tomorrow. This is a first look based on an incomplete preview prototype of the game. I was able to
Empyreal is a small game in all of its parts except for the ones you see. Not content with the cards-on-cards extravagance of Millennium Blades,
If the problem is board game overproduction here’s Exhibit A. I can’t deny that I fell for its charms. I’d never heard of Archmage before
I love the part in war movies where the battle is about to happen. Everyone is ready. Plans are set. Death is coming and everyone
I’m glad I do written reviews because I have absolutely no clue how to pronounce Arraial. I looked up how to pronounce Arraial and I
A quick description might suffice as a review of Stay Cool. You’re going to know pretty easily if it’s the kind of game you’ll enjoy.
Scrumpy is on Kickstarter for the next couple of weeks. If you only looked at an image of Scumpy on the table you’d be forgiven
I don’t know why Pocket Paragons exists. The two player dueling card game is an exceptionally crowded space, even if you exclude the CCG behemoths.
Setting A game of For Sale, an auction game in which players bid for properties (valued 1-30) using coins and then sell those properties back
This is the first time I’ve seen it. One of the joys of our little hobby is that it’s still small and scrappy; individuals with
The closest thing we’ve got to the endless sequels and spinoffs in the cinematic world here in board gaming are 2-player/dice/card versions of games we
We board gamers live in a time of abundance. Everywhere you look there’s a new interesting game to try out and chances are it’s going
What’s the value of a game that gives you space to chat with your friends while you play? I pondered this while talking with my
There’s something about the color scheme in Agropolis that looks a bit dour. I understand that the folks at Button Shy probably had some trouble
I’ve never been in this position before, reviewing a game for the second time, but I keep getting these EXIT games from Kosmos so I
After playing hundreds of board games I rarely find anything that feels new. There are many good games out there, but they often blend together
Most of what we do here at The Thoughtful Gamer is aimed at people who are already part of the modern board gaming hobby, but
Why is Terraforming Mars so popular? This was the question I posed to twitter the other day. I was admittedly in a bit of a
I’m calling it here: there’s going to be a boom of trick taking games over the next couple of years. The roll and write fad
(Art and components shown are not final.) Stop me if you’ve played this game before. There are some actions, but through an arbitrary process, you
One day, while wading through obstinate, naive political opinions on twitter (are there any other kind?) my eye caught the Good Stuff–a new review from
I distinctly remember the first time I saw a Jackson Pollock drip painting. It nearly put me on the floor. I could not believe the
The first time I played Stephenson’s Rocket I blundered with my very first turn. This 1999 Knizia classic, given a 21st century facelift from Grail
At time of publication you can still pre-order Magnate here. I’ve got to hand it to James Naylor, first time designer and publisher of Magnate:
Where are the dinosaurs?! Ecos is a game about the creation/shifting of earth on a geological scale, and while I’m no expert, that seems like
Human memory is terrifying. Once, at random, I completely lost the previous few minutes. I knew where I was, I knew where I was walking,
When I finally finished the sequel to my 9th favorite game of 2018 I had four entire pages of notes sprawled across the table, full
Last week my high school debate students got to experience me trying to explain the fundamentals of microeconomics in 15 minutes. How much they enjoyed
One of the best moments in gaming is when, after a heated game, you look around at your friends and catch the thought on their
Regins: The Council is on Kickstarter for 10 more days! What kind of bizarre, hilarious thought process resulted in the creation of Reigns? This quirky
The best movie fight scenes are rarely about the fighting itself. When I think about the fight scenes most notably implanted in my mind, I
Ever go to a board game con and look in the train room? Ever wonder why they dedicate entire rooms to train games? “What kind
Writing’s been tough the past couple of weeks. I’m hesitant to use the word “writer’s block” because that seems like a copout but the words
Call me the board game Nostradamus. Back in December I got to demo Tiny Towns at PAX Unplugged and I predicted that it would be
Tussie Mussie is avialable on Kickstarter until 6/8/19 Full disclosure: Tussie Mussie won a design contest in which I participated. My game was far, far
Writing about the new Street Fighter Exceed set has forced me to confront something I dread: my past writing. Nervously I searched for my original
How can I talk about Crusaders without discussing the theme? The Crusades are a deeply uncomfortable part of western history and while I’m fairly ignorant
I don’t know what Carl Chudyk looks like, but I picture him in mad scientist garb, cackling over card templates as he conjures up his
Just look at the box cover of Big Dig and you’ll see why I jumped on a chance to review it. That woman is so
Escape rooms are a humorous signal of prosperity. Who knew that a fad would emerge where people pay $30 each to voluntarily trap themselves in
Antinomy is on Kickstarter for just a couple more days! It’s fitting that Antinomy grants first player privileges to the person who has most recently
Look, people. I know I come across as this paragon of Aristotelian temperance, but when three people I trust tell me that a particular game
Fry Thief is on Kickstarter until 2/24. Check it out! I have never seen a game with a more relatable theme. You’re at dinner and your partner has ordered a burger and fries. In
A version of this review first appeared at Love Thy Nerd. Check it out! The cover of Pioneer Days depicts a colorful cast of eclectic characters smiling in the sun and looking like they’re having a splendid time
As abstract game month here at The Thoughtful Gamer spills into February for a bit, I have to admit that I’ve fallen more and more
Drop It, the silly abstract dropping-things dexterity game from Kosmos, is part of that eclectic board game sub-genre where the title of the game is
After opening my review of SPQF talking about the slightly strange occurrences when two movies with very similar premises are released at the same time,
Anthelion is on Kickstarter until 1/18/19 Some games feel open and comfortable. Whatever system the designer created feels like it could contain endless iteration and
In film there’s a bizarrely frequent occurrence where two movies with remarkably similar premises or inspirations will release at roughly the same time. Like, remember
I was at the wonderful PAX Unplugged earlier this month, and I was able to share the experience with some friends I hadn’t seen in
Remember when Love Letter was the hot new game taking the western world by storm? A fun game, with fun art, and only 18 cards!
The “we want an objective review” cry that frequently pops up on the internet is one of the most annoying arguments on the face of
So much of the pleasure of board gaming comes from moments of frisson, those exciting moments of suspense and anticipation before pulling a key card,
I suspect I have somewhat of an unusual perspective in the board game world, being a reviewer but still feeling somewhat outside of the board
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,
Once, when getting out of my car at the grocery store, I was approached by a guy holding out a CD. He earnestly inquired, “hey,
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
How did the roll and write genre get so popular all of a sudden? Yahtzee is an okay game, but I don’t remember any roll
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
Uncertainty is a terrifying nightmare from which there is no escape. Many people are still uncertain every day of where their food will come from.
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
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
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
Alright, people. I’ve got to be honest here. I’ve staked my reputation here on blunt honesty, so I’m just going to say it: when I
I’m a bit of a Resistance apologist. It was one of the first modern board games I really enjoyed. I’ve played it easily over 100
I’ve got a weird relationship with this Sanderson guy, the remarkably prolific, super popular fantasy author known for his robust magic systems. Ben, who you’ll
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