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Celestia Duo – How Far Do You Push Before It Breaks
Celestia Duo is a cooperative game made specifically for two players, set in the world of Celestia. You’re both on the same aircraft, chasing pirates who’ve looted the flying cities…
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Lacuna – Straight Lines Through a Field of Flowers
Some games want your attention right away. Big boards, piles of pieces, too many things happening at once. Lacuna isn’t one of those games. It’s quiet. Almost shy. And honestly,…
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Rolling Realms Redux – A Box Full of Different Ideas
Rolling Realms Redux is a roll-and-write built around a pretty simple idea: instead of giving you one big game, it gives you a collection of small ones. The game is…
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Through the Desert – When Camels Get in the Way
Designed by Reiner Knizia, Through the Desert is one of those games that looks very straightforward on the table. Hexes, camels, a desert theme. Nothing wild going on. But let’s…
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Norsewind – The Vikings Don’t Care About Your Plans Anyway
Plenty of games promise tough decisions, but Norsewind actually follows through on that. It’s set in Anglo-Saxon England around the year 793, right after the raid on Lindisfarne. Things are…
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Aquaria – An Exercise in Aquarium Management
Keeping an aquarium is rarely about doing one big thing right. It’s usually a mix of small decisions that slowly add up. Fish need food, plants need space, oxygen levels…
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Duel for Cardia – Losing Is Part of the Plan
Some games click straight away. You open the box, play once, and you know exactly what they’re doing. Duel for Cardia wasn’t quite like that for us. It took a…
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Koi – Putting the Right Pieces in the Right Places
Koi is one of those games that people notice before they even know what it’s about. You put it on the table, and someone will say “oh wow” before you’ve…
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Ninety Nine – One More Card or Time to Score?
At first glance, Ninety Nine looks very straightforward. You build rows of cards, you score points, and you race to 99. That’s really it. But once you actually sit down…
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Raptor Race – So… Who Are You Really Cheering For?
Raptor Race looks like a simple dinosaur race at first glance. Five raptors, one finish line, fastest one wins. But let’s face it, that’s not really what you’re doing here.…
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Fortunes of Scoundrel Bay – Sailing Ahead and Hoping for the Best
Fortunes of Scoundrel Bay puts you in a pirate archipelago full of islands, ports, monsters, and places you probably shouldn’t dock at without a plan. You play as a pirate…
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Jolly Christmas – Because One Christmas Tree Just Isn’t Enough
It’s that time of year again when half the country is pulling tangled lights out of a box and pretending it’s all part of the fun. Honestly, we all know…
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Tag Team – Reading the Fight Before It Happens
Tag Team is a two-player competitive game that mixes ideas from auto battlers and deckbuilding, but does it in a way that feels a bit different once you actually sit…
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Oddland – Where Curious Creatures Look For A Spot To Settle
Oddland is a map-building game where everyone slowly creates one shared landscape and tries to sneak their own strange creatures into the best spots. You place cards with bits of…
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Bomb5 – A Bit of Counting, A Bit of Exploding
Bomb5 is a tile-laying game where you’re messing around with numbers, flipping tiles, and trying to sneak your cups onto a shared grid before everyone else catches on. It looks…
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Pinched! – A Night in the Life of a Wanna-Be Master Thief
In Pinched! you play a bunch of burglars who try to slip into fancy manors, grab whatever valuables they can, and sell them off before the others catch on. It’s…
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Wispwood – When Your Own Forest Gets in the Way
Wispwood is one of those games that looks gentle at first glance, with these glowing little forest spirits drifting around, but once you start playing you realise it quietly asks…
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7 Wonders Dice – Not the Same, Not New Either
With 7 Wonders Dice, Antoine Bauza takes one of the most well-known civilization games and squeezes it into a roll-and-write. No cards, no drafting, just dice, pencils, and a city…
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River Valley Glassworks – Flowing Glass and Puzzly Little Decisions
At first glance, River Valley Glassworks looks calm and friendly. There’s a river, some woodland animals, and bright pieces of glass drifting along. It feels relaxed, almost cozy. But once…
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Recall – Well, I’m On These Paths Now
Recall starts with your tribe standing among the remains of older cultures. From there, it’s about exploring outward, developing your options, and planning for the long game. As you play,…
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Linyo – Drawing Yourself into Corners
Roll-and-write games feel pretty settled these days, I guess. You roll some dice, everyone looks at the same result, and then each player quietly works things out on their own…
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Pondscape – Keeping Some Very Demanding Frogs Happy
In Pondscape, you’re not saving the planet or designing some grand wildlife reserve. You’re just building a small pond. That’s it. And honestly, that already tells you a lot about…
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Sanctuary – The Little Ark Nova We Didn’t Know We Needed?
Sanctuary: An Ark Nova Game is a standalone title that picks up the familiar way of choosing actions and the animal-focused engine-building from Ark Nova, but puts it into a…
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Garden Lake – Koi, Lilies, and A Board Full Of “Hmm… No, Not There Either”
Garden Lake is a tile-laying puzzle game where you try to build the nicest little water garden you can. The theme says you’re taking part in something called the Water…
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