“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – William Shakespeare In Fairy Tile, you create the map of the kingdom and move the fairy tale characters through their story. Use the Pages in your Book to recount the adventure of the princess, the knight, and the dragon.
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I’m going to do my best to explain Hisashi Hayashi’s Zooscape, but I’m going to fail. And the first time you play, I predict you’re not going to get it, either. But play it a second time. Then maybe a third. Somewhere in there, the elegance of the game design is going to reveal itself to you. The ugly duckling
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Button Shy is a micro-publisher dealing exclusively in micro-games. All of their games are small enough to fit in a wallet. Although some of these games are quite involved despite the small number of cards, we’ll be looking at two of their lightest games: a travel game and a fast deduction party game.
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Some games, in my opinion, fall into the category of “must have” in your collection. There are some games which I seem to never get tired of playing. Some games that are good “gateway” games; games that are great for helping introduce inexperienced gamers to (post-Catan) games & gaming. Dixit is an incredible game that fulfills all these categories.
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Sometimes, you just want a simple game to pass the time. It’s even better if you can learn a little bit while you’re playing. For decades, Top Trumps has been doing its part to fill this need in the UK, but after being acquired by Winning Moves, they are now available in the US. With hundreds of different decks, did
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In our last review we looked at the game Gruff from Studio Woe. This week we’ll look at the recently published second expansion, Rage of the Trolls. Unlike their first expansion, Clash of the Battle Goats, (released in 2016) Rage of the Trolls includes a brand new play mode completely unlike anything before it.
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In the Norwegian fairy tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, the three goat brothers are trying to cross a bridge to graze peacefully in the fields beyond. They’re stopped by a troll until the oldest, biggest goat knocks the troll into the stream below (spoiler alert). On February 15, Studio Woe released the latest expansion to the Gruff universe,
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In episode 80, The Family Gamers explored games that are pure fun. Not necessarily the “best” or “most mechanically sound” game, but games that are just plain fun to play. This week we have a game that absolutely fits that mold. We will look at a new game designed by Théo Riviére and published by Iello, Sticky Chameleons.
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“My family is better than yours!” That’s the premise behind Ancestree, created by Eric Lang and published by Calliope Games. Can you build a dynasty worth commemorating? Or will your lineage be merely mediocre?
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Playing puzzle games with children can be frustrating. If it’s mildly challenging for me, it may be impossible for my 7-year-old; but if it’s the right level for him, it’s far too easy for me. I don’t want to hold back: I want to beat my children fair and square. What to do? Match Madness gives us a possible solution.
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The word “OK” is almost universally understood, regardless of age or language. So Big Potato Games used “OK” in the name of their simplest game to highlight its universal accessibility.
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What comes to mind when you read the phrase “video game adaptation”? Jean Claude Van Damme as Belgian Guile? XCOM: The Board Game: The Companion App? Endless Resident Evil sequels? An absolutely epic pile of cardboard tokens for Civilization? Turning a video game into a movie or a tabletop game is a difficult challenge. Robots Love Ice Cream: The Card Game,
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As a city planner, you naturally want to make the most beautiful and crowd-pleasing city. But watch out! Other players may offload their problems to your beautiful city, even as you upgrade your buildings to become more useful. Will you flip for Flip City, or is it more of a flop?
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Arr, mateys! We be pirates, sailing the high seas in search of Loot. We play cards to capture or defend merchant ships. Loot is one of the earliest games from designer Reiner Knizia. It’s been available in the United States since 2005 from publisher GameWright, but the newest version has updated artwork and comes in a metal tin.
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Harmonix is known for rhythm-and-music video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. We love every game they have made (we regularly rave about Amplitude), so when they announced their new game for Switch, Super Beat Sports, we were intrigued. Sports in a music game? How could that work?
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Board games can be intense. One of the most hotly anticipated games of this year comes in a huge box with hundreds of pieces. Poring over rulebooks has become as much a part of the fun as playing the game for so many players. Layers upon layers are used to create incredibly complex and rich gameplay experiences that can last
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What do you do when presented an opportunity to create new rules for a game? Are you the type of person to follow the written rules religiously, or do you come up with your own variations for your favorite game?
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Birds and flowers and fish, oh my! This beautiful abstract game has players work together to make a beautiful garden. But will the garden be most pleasing from your perspective, or will your opponents have a better view?
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In Macroscope, players compete to guess the nature of a hidden picture. Remove windows from the Macroscope and bid to be the first to guess correctly to win acclaim. Did Macroscope reveal hidden depths, or was it out of focus?
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What does the word “Voodoo” make you think about? Is it a doll with pins? Is it an African religion? Most likely, you don’t think about the game Voodoo, a crazy magic game from Mayday Games. This week we take a stab at this game to find out if it casts a spell on us.
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