Board Games Reviews

Kinfire Council is a game that, on the surface, I shouldn’t really like. It has a semi-cooperative element, which I dislike. It has negotiation, which I dislike. And it has bidding, which I REALLY dislike. All of that aside, it is part of the Kinfire universe, a universe I’ve come to really enjoy through playing Kinfire Delve and Kinfire Chronicles. That alone spurred me forward into this experience, and despite my reservations, I had an absolute blast. There might appear…

I’ve had the pleasure of playing Food for Thought for a couple weeks now, and the number one thing that was blowing my mind was, “Why is there not more chatter about this game?” I assumed that after GenCon 2025, there would be more unboxing videos, reviews, etc. for this game, which I do realize only delivered to backers a few months ago. After a quick chat with my PR rep, I learned that Food for Thought was really just…

Gloomies has a really eye-catching production with tons of little wooden pieces that pop when on the table. Ravensburger has been putting out some fantastic games with great table presence, while also keeping the games simple and accessible to all. Gloomies is a card driven game, which I generally really like, but does the gameplay hold up over time? Let’s take a look! This card driven game is broken down into two phases: the growing phase where you will be…

The Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite book and movie franchises of all time, and yes, I even like the Hobbit films! Whenever a Lord of the Rings themed game comes out, I’m probably going to buy it, and I’m probably going to love it. We have had a great run of The Lord of the Rings in board game form in the past year, with games like The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the…

I’ve recently found that a lot of board game fans are not familiar with titles from Matagot and shamefully I must add myself to that list. However, looking at their catalogue, I was pretty intrigued by their lineup of games. The Peak Team Rangers looked particularly cool, and thanks to Matagot, I was able to pickup a copy at GenCon 2025 for review. Generally, the quality of production is company wide; if a company produced a high quality game, it’s…

I’m a huge fan of designers taking games that adults love and creating a kids version of the game. Sometimes the game is more in name than theme, but I still love the idea of introducing my kids to the Jr. version of a game they might play later. The Sandcastles of Burgundy is a fantastic kids game with variety and ways to make the game more difficult, and overall I think it’s a fabulous kids experience that adults will…

I’m generally not a huge fan of games that have strong take-that mechanics, which means a lot of dueling 2-player games don’t appeal to me. At GenCon 2025, I had the chance to get a quick overview of how it worked from a Luma Imports representative, and I was actually intrigued. Not only did the game look fantastic, but the card play and engine building looked really interesting as well. It will be the table presence, though, that will get…

The deeper we get into 2025, the less likely I am to get excited about yet another duel game; however, when companies take massive euro-style games and turn them into something bitesize and for two players, I’m still going to be intrigued. Yokohama Duel doesn’t have the biggest box, but for $35 USD, you are getting a ton of components and content, and hopefully, the Yokohama feel! What I’m most impressed by in this production is how much content Synapses…

Solstis was a game I was really interested in just based on the look of the box. It looks like a cozy and fun 2-player game that is both relaxing and competitive. I think that probably accurately reflects the intent of the game, but I was personally left unsure of how I felt after about a half dozen plays. Don’t get me wrong, the concept here is actually pretty interesting. Players are drafting tiles from a central display by “capturing”…

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Unfortunately, I hear that saying all the time, I even tell people that, and yet I’ve been passing on Thunder Road Vendetta for years now because, “I don’t like racing games.” Frustratingly, outside of knowing there was a bit of edginess you don’t find in something like Heat: Pedal to the Metal, I just assumed this was a game about racing from A to B, and whoever…