Dale Yu: Review of Trial of the Forest

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Trial of the Forest

  • Designer: Giancarlo Spinelli
  • Publisher: Rebel studio
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 12+
  • Time: 60-120 min
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Tpm9MK
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Embark on a journey deep into the ancient forest of The Trial of the Forest. Traverse labyrinthine paths, gather resources and choose which deeds you wish to accomplish. You may peacefully forage for berries or seek lost artifacts on dangerous expeditions; ambush your rivals or surprise them with a cup of tea; buy equipment at a store or burn it to the ground. Each deed improves your skills and earns you fame. However, only one adventurer can emerge victorious from the Trial of the Forest.

The Trial of the Forest is a strategic narrative adventure game featuring resource management, multi-use cards, skill progression, combat and an evolving board. Every decision shapes your own story, creating a unique emergent narrative and forging a personal path to victory.

 

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Gen Con 2026 – Resurrection Games, Archon Studios, Avalon Hill, Hasbro

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Matt J Carlson

There’s still more to talk about in the gaming hall. It really is a big mix of trading card game, miniatures, and boardgames from big and small publishers.

 

A new publisher, Resurrection Games, had a very nice setup showing off their new superhero bag-builder battler called Brave & Bold. If I were going to spend far too much money on a miniatures game, StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game by Archon Studios would be awfully tempting.

As is traditional, Hasbro and Avalon Hill were only to be found in the gaming hall. They had rereleases of Fury of Dracula (now 5th edition) and the old Guillotine card game along with the new Market Fresh game of produce-stacking. Hasbro had two new flavors of Monopoly Deal: KPop Demon Hunters and No Mercy. There is also a new release of the BB shooting Crossfire for some mindless fun. In honor of the wonderful midwestern weather, we’ll take a peek at the bonus water also appearing in the gaming hall.

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Gen Con 2026 – Tesselation Games, Incredible Dream Studios, Lime Green Games

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Matt J Carlson

While the main dealer hall can’t be beat for concentrated gaming information, the adjacent gaming hall is a great place to stop in and play games. Some publishers rent space to provide an area for a full playthrough of their games and/or host tournaments during the weekend. This includes some people without a booth in the dealer hall. The gaming hall provides a bit of exposure and much more room for gaming for what I suspect is a lower price point.

Since I usually went through the gaming hall on my way in and out of the convention, I was able to check out several publishers who weren’t to be found in the main dealer hall. Tesselation Games was an easy visit because they were showing off String Theory, the crazy-looking yarn-unspooling game of conspiracy podcasting. I also tried their older game, Berrymandering, consisting of repeated I-split you-choose results until the board is finished off.

As a fan of the League of Legends videogame, I was happy to see Incredible Dream Studios bringing back the cooperative Mechs vs. Minions campaign game. You can get it with cardboard and acrylic pieces or the old-school pile of plastic figures. Not technically the game demo hall, but I caught up with a friend at the freeplay ballroom to see how his car-battler Vroom Zoom Boom from Lime Green Games is coming along.  Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Two new Pandasaurus versions of classic games: Gulo Gulo and Hacienda

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Well, Pandasaurus has had a number of new summer releases, and two of them share names with classic games.   Daryl Andrews is back to his old tricks, and he has reworked both of these games into new versions.

 

Gulo Gulo

  • Designers: Wolfgang Kramer, Hans Raggan, Daryl Andrews, Jurgen P. Grunau 
  • Publisher: Pandasaurus
  • Players: 2-6
  • Age: 5+
  • Time: 20-30 mins
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4yiVGiL
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Each player is a Gulo, or wolverine, trying to rescue a baby Gulo who got caught by the swamp vulture whose eggs it was trying to steal. Unfortunately for the baby Gulo, all the adult Gulos are distracted by all the delicious swamp vulture eggs, and it has to wait very, very patiently as the adults constantly trip the very, very sensitive “egg alarm” rigged by the vulture to scare off the pesky Gulos.

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Dale Yu: Review of Golfie

Posted on September 12, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Golfie

  • Designer: Jimmy Dorion 
  • Publisher: Unigoat
  • Players: 1-8
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 25 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Welcome to the course! In this golf-inspired board game, each player must take action on the 9 cards on his or her course in order to score as few points as possible. For a 9-hole, the game is played in 28 actions. Each action is determined by the 28 shuffled action cards.

May the best golfer win! 

 

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Dale Yu: Review of Mountain Goats: Legacy

Posted on September 11, 2026 by Dale Yu

 

 

Mountain Goats: Legacy

  • Designers: Alex Cutler, Michael Mihealsick, Stefan Risthaus  
  • Publisher: Allplay
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 7+
  • Time: 20-45 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Each turn, roll and combine dice to race up the mountain. Get to the top to score, but don’t get knocked off! If you roll the goat symbol, activate new abilities — powers that rotate every mission. As your story progresses, you’ll unlock even more powerful abilities and face tougher challenges. The mountain itself might even transform beneath your feet.

Mountain Goats: Legacy combines dice rolling/combining and events into a longer version of Mountain Goats. But, after the first session, more and more hazards and gameplay tweaks show up. The dice now have a goat symbol — when rolled, you’ll get to use one of the unlocked player powers. These can change with every session! There’s also a new system called “Courage” that greatly affects your ability to mitigate luck and refine your dice rolls.

 

This game can be played as either a single session or a legacy game. As a legacy game, it is fully replayable and resettable. You will not be asked to destroy or modify components. The first session can also be combined with the original Mountain Goats game.

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