February had a nice mix of in-person play and online play with guildies from the OG guild. Incidentally, I also just posted my 1000'th rating on BGG, so I'll probably do a separate post about that.
8.5 Codenames: Duet x3 (32 all-time)
I think this is a straight improvement on regular Codenames, which I already really like.
Pros:
The best part of Codenames is giving clues and this makes everyone be able to be the spymaster. It's also more satisfying to cooperate and win against the game rather than another team.
The difficulty also forces taking risks, in the original you only had to keep ahead of the other team, sometimes rewarding careful, boring plays. To balance this, there are 3 assassins, which is another improvement since sometimes in the original, the assassin was really easy to play around, but in Duet there's always at least 1 assassin that's annoying.
Finally, the fact that each codex card has specific colour matching rules on the other side just makes the game that much more strategic.
Cons:
You kind of have to be in the right mood for this. It's quite thinky and it can be frustrating if it goes badly, so you have to be ready for that.
8.5 Horizons of Spirit Island NEW!
This is pretty much exactly Spirit Island (SI) again. The reduced player count makes no difference since I'd never want to play SI with more than 3 and the more basic cardboard components make up for their lack of flair by making the board state slightly easier to read. Anyway, here's my comment on SI:
Pros:
It's big, complex and unique and one of few coop games that feels like it really fights back. While it's quite rules heavy, I feel like not a single rule is wasted because it all feeds into interesting and tough decisions every turn. There's also some true cooperation required here, everyone has their own powers and resources to deal with, but the board and events are very much shared.
The resource management mechanisms are solid, there's light engine building by spreading your influence and building your hand, and also deterministic combat. I especially adore the card flowing system that means that you can always plan at least 2 turns ahead and still allows for an unpredictable enemy that will create a slightly different puzzle every time.
I like the asymmetry of the different and plentiful spirits. Even after 2 expansions and 2 promos worth of spirits, there's still no 2 spirits that feel very similar to play. Sure there are more than one defensive spirit for example, but the difference between them will become quickly apparent.
I love everything about the setting. All of the spirits are very thematic to play and have close connections between setting and mechanisms. It's great to finally subvert the colonialist tendencies of the board game industry and the production is excellent.
The pacing of the game is great, you feel weak in the beginning and the game seems impossible, but at the end you will feel powerful and unstoppable.
There's a great push and pull between dealing with current threats quickly and planning for upcoming threats slowly and the card system works well into that.
I really like that there's very little and very manageable randomness in the game, especially without the event deck introduced in the expansions. It may seem like this would make the game boring and "solved," but there's just enough there to always be exciting, it's just that you can plan a bit more long term than many other coops, which is great given its weight and playtime.
There's also a ridiculous amount of customization possible, between adversaries, scenarios, thematic map and different spirits. This is great for making the game infinitely replayable, but more than that it means that you can get exactly the kind of challenge that you want.
Cons:
There's not really anything here to prevent alpha gaming. There's very little luck, especially without any expansions, so players may insist that there's a "correct" play that should be made. This is mitigated somewhat by semi-hidden hands and high asymmetry and complexity, but it's there.
Winning the game is sometimes not very satisfying. Either a win sneaks up on you and doesn't feel earned, or you reach a turning point where you're starting to wrestle back control over the board and don't feel very threatened but have to still go through the motions of a few turns until you actually reach a win condition.
This is quite minor though, because the first part will go away with experience and the second part is helped by increasing the difficulty. Actually, since losing is always tense and exciting, increasing the difficulty is never a bad idea.
The big con is that the game is very complicated, especially with expansions. I prefer the game without expansions, but even then it can be a bit fiddly, especially with a higher player count. It takes a while to get through a turn, partly due to all the procedure involved with just playing the game, but mainly because the sheer openness of the game state means that figuring out what you can do frequently takes more time than choosing whatto do. That means that even if the game doesn't have that many turns, it overstays its welcome and will have a lot of downtime, especially with more players.
8.5 The Great Zimbabwe NEW!
The second least complicated Splotter!
Pros:
I love the points mechanism, I'm surprised no-one else has ripped it off as it's so simple, evocative and competitive. It's such a clever way to balance different powers and give players control over how to play the game. It lets everyone be competitive despite having wildly different scopes.
The bidding for turn order works well and is another simple twist on familiar mechanisms to create something entirely new. These auctions can be very competitive and impactful, and this system allows for clever plays within an otherwise rigid auction framework.
The economy is interwoven, deep and engaging. It reminds me of the shared infrastructure of Brass, except this makes Brass feels like it's on rails. Every placement can have a major impact on future possibilities, no action is wasted in this game.
Despite the openness of the game, there is really only one way to get points, and I like the focus this yields. All your options and wild ramifications of your actions boil down to a single action everyone will be taking to win the game. This makes it much easier to parse the most relevant aspect of the game state and to know what you can do to interfere with your opponents' options (and how they can interfere with you).
Cons:
As with any Splotter, you are given plenty of rope to hang yourself with if you're not careful and this can be frustrating for players.
The game is opaque, it can often be difficult to predict the outcomes of your actions and this can lead to slow play and a high degree of difficulty learning the game. This can also make you feel more distant to your actions.
8.0 The King's Dilemma (7 all-time)
A great experience!
Pros:
I'm not an RPG player, and I don't like forced roleplaying in board games. However, I love when the setting and mechanical verisimilitude encourages roleplay in a more organic manner. It's hard to play this game and not get in the mood for roleplay and that elevates the experience a lot.
This is achieved partly in that the mechanisms get out of the way quickly and partly because the different houses and dilemmas are so very evocative and interesting.
The actual dilemma part is well done, I really like the negotiation rules and the different options available to you. I think the campaign structure actually gives a lot of depth to the negotiation, partly in that you can trade short-term gains against long-term and partly because the meta will change as the campaign continues.
The story has developed in interesting directions, and the basic structure of the game has been pushed in interesting ways as the campaign continues.
Cons:
While you have a lot of wiggle-room in terms of what you can negotiate with, you don't have that many opportunities to actually work out interesting deals, since your resources and options are quite limited.
It's possible to get a set of houses that either all roughly want the same thing, or maybe single one person out as a pariah. That's not a very interesting status quo, and you're kind of stuck with it for a whole campaign. I guess it's easy enough to moderate what people pick at the start, but it also sucks to not get to play your favourite house because of what other players picked.
I like how seemingly simple they've made it to swap out players, but anyone that's been in the most games will of course have a big advantage, so I think they could have done more in terms of this.
7.5 Hacienda NEW!
Clever mix of network building and economy!
Pros:
I like the card-driven network building, with a lot of control to make long networks, it if weren't for the other players and money concerns.
I like the triangular scoring for connected farms, and how you don't have to connect then with each other. It creates for an interesting decision near the end of the game, where you can get a big scoring opportunity by connecting a few more farms, but going for it leaves you vulnerable to be easily blocked by the other players if they're ready for it.
I like the two-phased scoring, which helps strategies that can peter out at the end of the game by giving them an early lead. It also focuses your attention towards easy points right before the first scoring, but as the timing of this is player-controlled, you can easily be punished for being greedy by someone triggering scoring before you're ready for it.
I like how you can build networks of both animals and landscapes, and how they differ and interact with each other.
Cons:
The economic aspect of the game is a bit weird, because you only notice it when you run out of money. Most turns you'll be able to do whatever you want, and only when you can't, you'll see the error of your frivolity.
At the end of the day, it doesn't elevate beyond its well-made core. It's balanced, quick, fun and interactive; but it's missing that spark of magic. The interaction is just slightly not cutthroat enough, the economy isn't quite tight enough, the network building is a bit too restricted. It's almost the JASE of OGs, a JASOG if you will. A workmanlike effort by Kramer that doesn't reach the height of his classics.
7.0 Kabuto Sumo x2 NEW!
Interesting take on dexterity games.
Pros:
I've played plenty of stacking and flicking dexterity games, but never one like this!
The production is great, as I expect from Allplay at this point. It's a bit hard to fit everything assembled in the box, but I prefer that over a box full of air.
The different victory conditions is an interesting quirk for an otherwise very basic game, and it can create some interesting dynamics.
Cons:
The different wrestlers don't seem all that balanced, and in particular we had an incident with the wrestler that could push two small dots on one turn that won on the very first action, not even letting the other player play!
I actually want to try the game without the wrestlers, as they seem to mess with the economy and push the game to end in a way that undermines the alternative victory condition.
7.0 Rapa Nui x2 NEW!
Interesting stock market manipulation game, the best game by a very esteemed designer.
Pros:
I really like how scoring is triggered by the revealed card. It adds depth to the decision of which card to take, and means that emptying a stack can be a risk. I also like how this is used for a player-driven end game timer.
The different strategies are all interesting and synergistic. E.g. producing a lot of wood can get you a lot of statues and let you be able to buy cards, but without craftsmen you won't get as many cards as those that go for that strategy so your added influence over the scoring of commodities will have lesser value. Meanwhile having many craftsmen will improve your economy but may give you too little influence over the actual values of the goods you'll get. Then there's priests, a sort of separate path of more dependable points, but that rely on well-timed scorings. An interesting counter-point if everyone else goes too hard on the other strategies.
I like the little bonus you get for having a lead during scoring. I like the way you can play several matching craftsmen at the same time. I like how you have to pay your hard-earned resources to make those same resources better, and that someone gets to do it in secret. A lot of small rules that add up to a very interesting game.
Cons:
The setting definitely belies the actual game here, and while it's a nice enough setting I think some people would be more interested in the game if it had a more traditional stock market setting.
I feel like priests are a bit too weak. Getting your first priest gives 1 point per scoring, which is often less than your first of any craftsman giving you 1 card per scoring that can be worth between 0-3. The value of getting a second of anything will of course depend on majorities, and there are session where it will be very good to have priests, but let's not forget that you can play more than 1 craftsman per turn and they also let you buy cards for less every turn instead of just being relevant during scoring.
The priests also get hosed by ties on the altar, which mean that all resources are worth at least 1, which feels rather toothless.
The game has a weird way around hidden trackable information, where it just embraces it wholeheartedly and asks players to deal with it. I don't necessarily mind that, but I also wonder what it adds to the game. It's e.g. not as viscerally rewarding of a reveal as the Castillo in El Grande.
6.5 Spy Connection NEW!
A less interesting version of Caravan (2019).
Pros:
I love network building as a mechanism, but a large part of why I like it is the commitment it requires and how it combines the tactical nature of vying for contested routes with the strategical nature of a growing permanent network. This eschews the permanent aspect, asking you to constantly break apart and regrow your network and while it doesn't rank among my favorites of the genre because of this, I also welcome it as a breath of fresh air that works very well and creates new challenges!
The biggest pro here is that it remains just as tactically satisfying as any good network building game. While you can build on top of other people, it costs twice as much so it's still important to identify contested areas and get there first. You also need to stay flexible for juicy
This was a bit tongue-in-cheek, the above Pros were all from my Caravan comment. But seriously, all the best aspects of this design was done better and earlier by Caravan. Claiming spots is slightly different than pick-up-and-deliver and I doubt the similarities are intentional, but it's an important point of comparison as to why this game didn't resonate with me. The one unique thing I likes is the different boards so you can tune the tightness of the game to your liking.
Cons:
I don't like how rigid your network building options are: If you want to extend your network it has to exactly reach 1 new city. It would be so much more interesting to e.g. claim any 3 spots on your turn, so you could decide whether to hit up an important choke-point or give yourself movement options for next turn.
The random card market is about as uninteresting and unfair as the random cube pulls in Caravan, so not much to say about that. If a card shows up that has cities you're already connected to or match where you need to go, it's a non-decision to grab it even if it costs 2-3 agents regardless of its rewards.
The agent limit was so intriguing in theory, but leads to uninteresting game states in practice. Basically, you don't have enough agents to form any meaningfully sized network, so the blocking aspect and efficiency gains never really materialize. It's far too efficient to always just move 1 city at a time with a full load of expensive, synergistic cards, so this whole network building mechanism disappears with competitive play.
6.0 Haggis NEW!
It's a climbing shedding game that works for 2 and 3 players, but I would rather play something else.
Pros:
I've only played it as a 3 player game and it's often touted as a 3-player version of Tichu. It definitely reminds me of Tichu and it works well for 3 players. The best change to make it work for 3 is the bidding introduced in one of the variants. Not only does bidding reduce the variance of card games by letting you cash in big on the good hands to compensate for the bad ones, but it's also an interesting bidding system. By winning the bid, you get to replace cards, making your hand better. But by bidding higher, you reduce the amount of cards you get to replace. So you can improve your chances of making the bid by winning the bid, but hubris is punished. Brilliant!
You also start with 3 wilds in hand, and can use 2-3 of them to bomb. This balloons your options for playing out a hand, and it's always an interesting option to pivot and "waste" a wild just to try to get initiative.
Cons:
There's two major changes compared to Tichu and I dislike both of them.
The biggest change is that you need colored suits and pair sequences, and there's more (shorter) suits. I really dislike this, it just increases the variance of each hand and reduces options. I realize that the 3 wilds sort of compensates for this luck, but it's an inelegant solution to a problem that Tichu didn't have.
The other change is that the bidding means that points from the tricks are much less impactful. This eliminates a really interesting trade-off from Tichu, where you maybe wanted to risk not going out to pocket a big scoring trick.
5.5 Exit: The Game – The House of Riddles NEW!
Very mediocre, there's too many Exits out there to get this one.
Pros:
No frustrating or far-fetched puzzles this time around.
I like the clarity of the linear structure of the puzzles this time...
Cons:
...But that also meant that there was never any doubt regarding which thing to work on next of whether we had what we needed.
This had really boring and easy puzzles. I realize it's categorized at beginner, so maybe I just got the wrong one, but that's still how I felt about it.
There's usually still always a couple stand-out stuff, but this didn't have that, it was too hand-holdy.
5.5 On Tour: Paris and New York NEW!
A gorgeous solo puzzle you can play next to other people.
I've only played the New York map, and I imagine I would rate Paris much lower so likely won't try it.
Pros:
I absolutely love this setting, and the production is great!
The New York version actually has player interaction, in that the length of the game is dictated by whoever uses the fewest ferries. That's a really interesting point of tension, because ferries are obviously great and can both get you bonus points by getting to the different boroughs, but also get you out of a jam. However, being the only player with a filled out board is also beneficial, especially if it lets you catch other players off-guard leaving a hole in the middle of their route, but also just the threat of that can force players into making poor decisions.
Cons:
The dice system creates for uninteresting odds, in that each individual number is equally likely. I like it when push-your-luck games like this uses a bell curve to create interesting decisions, like how the most important numbers in Qwixx are also the most rare.
The rules are pretty poor, another example of Allplay focusing more on a small rules booklet than a clear ruleset. One example is that landlocked spaces have a different opacity on the New York map, but that's never stated in the rules, it just shows a picture of the different spaces and asks you to "spot the difference."
I don't like the core puzzle of drawing a route in ascending number order. It sounds fun in theory, but at the end of the game you'll still just be waiting around, hoping a number between X and Y happens to show up with the right card to accompany it. Good play will make the difference between X and Y larger, and will make the point swing for not hitting it lesser, but that's always how every game will end.
The ferries and restrictive junctions in New York mean that you're even more incentivized to lock in your plans as early as possible, meaning that you get to that end game state of just sitting around hoping for numbers way earlier than I would image you do in the more open original. Paris allows for a bit more leeway in the way the riverboats work, but Paris also completely lacks player interaction so I don't have any interest in that version.
At the end of the day it's just another roll-and-write where you sit next to each other and hope for the dice to be on your side. The puzzle is more intricate than many others, but that also means that the decisions are more obvious, they just take more time to make, which is a horrible combination. There's some redeeming qualities here, but Qwixx is another roll-and-write with tempo-based interaction, and while it lacks this amazing setting and production, I'd take its gameplay over this any day.
5.0 Bangkok Klongs NEW!
Innocuous shared incentives OG.
Pros:
There's some interesting jostling for positions in that each square can only hold 3 boats, so by placing a third boat in a square you effectively nullify a scoring at the empty corner.
The emergent shared incentives work well, and it's always fun to nestle into an area an opponent has been building up.
The small board gets really tight and interesting towards the end of the game.
The order and choice of regions to score is the highlight of the game! Can you rely on someone else scoring an important region for the both of you, are you wasting time scoring something that could be better served staying in place, can you deny someone else a big score by removing your boat before it can score?
Cons:
There's a lot of faff. You have a set collection aspect to the game, but it will rarely affect more than 10% of your total score so why bother? You also get a varying amount of points (3-7) each time you move the timer for the game, but how much will a difference of 2 points change your play? There's a bunch of special boats, but e.g. the doubling boat is roughly equivalent to a merchant having 3 baskets and the protection boat has very fringe use cases, so most of the time you'd be happier just drawing a regular boat.
You can move a boat exactly twice, but that just gives you options to fix mistakes and serves to make the game less cutthroat and less interesting IMO. It's fine, but it's another thing to teach and keep track of.
5.0 Psychic Pizza Deliverers Go to the Ghost Town NEW!
Amazing production of a mediocre game.
Pros:
The setting and production are excellent, similar to many Allplay games. Even though the GM has no decisions, it's recompense enough to get to play with all the cute little wooden bits.
I like how the players can use other players' information to their advantage and even help each other take out ghosts protecting a house if they're not paying attention. I also like how information is updated continuously, so you can notice other players' actions near you. It's a mediocre deduction puzzle at best, but the way it's shared elevates it.
Cons:
The need for a human being to be a GM without any decisions feels a bit dated, this would have worked better with an app. Still, the game is quick enough, you can get some schadenfreude, and you get to make fun BOO noises as Mayor, so it's not a huge deal.
I don't like some of the randomness. I like the cards and their effects, that's the right level of silliness for this game. I don't like the way some players will stumble onto a pizza and then another player, revealing half the map in an instant for them; and some other players will instead stumble into a teleporter and never find a pizza the whole game. Losing in this game can feel very frustrating and is exacerbated by the feeling of being lost that this game can illicit at times.
The rules are extremely unclear, there are some edge cases not mentioned and some of the cards are very ambiguously written with no further clarification.
4.0 Schweinebande NEW!
A worse version of Hey, That's My Fish! (HTMF!)
Pros:
I like how pigs double in value the last turn, that's the kind of interesting twist I expect from a Dorra game.
I like how sometimes you can get behind another pawn blocking your path if you just wait for them to move first, but by that point the stuff you wanted back there may have already been taken.
The unknown board means that there's an interesting tension between placing early, while there's still room on the board for the best spots and the possibility to play early next round, or later, while you have more information...
Cons:
...But that tension is completely undermined by the fact that acting early will always be very important, so you're almost always better off just placing all your farmers immediately regardless of what you flip and hope to get lucky, at least until the final round if you specifically need pigs.
I don't find the set collection interesting at all. The simplicity of the different point tiles in HTMF! means that everyone is competing over the same things, but in this I may need a chicken to complete my 1-of-everything set but it's worthless to you, so there's no tension.
You also get so many tiles, combined with feeding rules and the end game scoring of non-sets, that just getting more tiles is often better than getting specific tiles you want, which makes the whole set collection part feel even more tacked-on and uninteresting.
Georg's Play of the Month
A first play of a great Splotter is going to be tough to beat, especially considering that I won the game! That is usually not relevant to my liking of games, but given how opaque Splotter games can be, I think it's a credit to the game that I managed to beat experience players my first time.
Ika's Play of the Month
Discussion points:
What's your favourite Splotter?
Found any games that should be perfect for you but for whatever reason didn't resonate with you?
Have any recommendations for unique dexterity games?
Remember to this post if you liked it to help more people discover it!
