I love when an announcement comes out of nowhere and gets you to jump up and do a happy dance. That’s what happened about a day ago when a press release landed in my inbox announcing that the original Culdcept was going to be re-released on Steam, and in English for the first time, no less. And that there was…
People who play board games are familiar with Dominion. It is considered the “gateway drug” to deckbuilding card games (and was indeed the first example of one), being both light and accessible and very good at showcasing the basic mechanics of this particular genre. It has sold millions and millions…
Sugoroku is, as far as the mechanics go, not the most exciting…
Lego Party is a Mario Party clone. Let’s not beat around the…
The Japanese are a growing force in global tabletop game design. While the association with Japan and video games is long and deep, traditionally we haven’t embraced too many of their tabletop games (classic or modern). This is partly because many of the best were never localised, and partly because…
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Of all the ways to use the mighty Demon Slayer license I honestly did not expect a Mario Party clone to be one of the first. And yet, that’s what has happened. Following hot on the heels of the perfectly reasonable slash-em-up from from a few years ago comes Sweep…
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I had no idea that there was a Shin Megami Tensei tabletop RPG, but there is indeed one, and a press release just landed in my inbox today to say that it was being localised into English for the first time. The tabletop game is called Tokyo Conception, and is…
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Kashido is one of the more interesting, downright fascinating board games I’ve played in recent years. It comes to us from Japan, and is an abstraction of a significant and cultural part of Japanese food culture. It is a physical board game in Japan, but as far as I can…
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I’ve run out of patience with the Richman series. I want to love them, but the feeling is clearly not reciprocal. This is the third game that developer/publisher, Softstar, has released on the Nintendo Switch, and not only does it demonstrate that there is little interest in improving the series,…
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Sunshine Shuffle is a fun and even clever idea that falls to bits in execution. There’s some genuine genius in there but it becomes such a struggle to play through far too quickly for its own good. Related reading: For a solid game of poker (and 50 other classic games…
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Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is a clever little attempt to take the board game format, and apply it to an RPG. Just go in with the expectation that it’s the latter that only looks like the former, and you’ll be well placed to have a good time of it. Related reading:…
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Catan’s trajectory has been incredible, given that it’s only 28 years old. Initially, it was something of a disruptor, helping the “Eurogame” become a dominant approach to board games. From there it became a Monopoly-like thing – a game that absolutely everyone owns a copy of and is aware of…
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It’s amazing to think that the Japanese, who have such a long and fine heritage with video games, have not traditionally been that prolific with board games. There are the classics, of course (Hanafuda card games, Shogi), and there are one or two hits (Love Letter being arguably the most…
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Dokapon Kingdom isn’t the best-known game out there in Sting’s long and illustrious library, but it has its fans. The last time we saw the property was back on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii but now, after many years, it’s making a return to Nintendo Switch. Dokapon Kingdom: Connect…
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